To be or not to be.

Robin Michael   Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:02 am GMT
Statement

To be or not to be.

Question

To be or not to be?

Exclamation

To be or not to be!


"What does it mean to be able to read? At its most basic, literacy provides the ability to understand road signs and the instructions on packages of medicine. Less tangibly, reading opens the mind to new ideas and opportunities."

National Geographic magazine Culture Section September 2006


What do you think of the sort of people who read the National Geographic magazine?

Do the adverts give a clue?
.   Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:09 am GMT
.
.
"I think, therefore I am"





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes



René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650)

Philosophical work

His most famous statement is "Cogito ergo sum" (French: Je pense, donc je suis; English: I think, therefore I am; or I am thinking, therefore I exist), found in §7 of part I of Principles of Philosophy (Latin) and in part IV of Discourse on the Method (French).
Uriel   Wed Aug 19, 2009 3:07 am GMT
National Geographic has an immense readership that suggests that there is no one "type" of person that it is aimed at.

"I think therefore I am" isn't semantically anything like "to be or not to be". Are those supposed to be linked in your posts?
a demotivator   Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:34 pm GMT
In your case, I'd say: please do not be!
Achab   Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:17 pm GMT
My two cents:

"Do be do be do" -- Frank Sinatra

Happy internetting,

Achab
M.Dick   Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:57 pm GMT
Ahoy Achab!
Happy White Whale hunting to you too,

Dick
Robin Michael   Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:31 am GMT
I am trying to make antimoon more interesting, or at least, more interesting to me.


In the National Geographic magazine I came across a quote about the importance of being able to read. Essentially it said that being able to read opened people up to the possibility of new ideas.

I then transferred the idea of 'being able to read' to 'being able to read English' or any foreign language. If you are able to read English then you are able to understand the ideas behind such expressions as:

To be or not to be

and

I think, therefore I am



I also introduced a different idea: What sort of people buy the National Geographic magazine? I associate the National Geographic magazine with Doctors and Dentists waiting rooms. What I was hoping to suggest was that people who buy the National Geographic magazine have money and are interested in travel. They are possibly wealthy people who do not have much time to read but like an intellectual magazine in which they can look at the pictures (photography). I am basing these assumptions partially on the type of adverts in the National Geographic magazine.

There is an interesting split in the National Geographic magazine. There is an interest in poverty particularly if it is picturesque or newsworthy. Yet the adverts are clearly aimed at the top end of the market.
The Observer   Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:39 am GMT
<<In your case, I'd say: please do not be!>>

No need to tell her not to think. now is it.
The Observer   Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:42 am GMT
I assume this will be a correction.

No need to tell him* not to think. now is it.
@Robin Michael   Thu Aug 27, 2009 8:32 pm GMT
It is not true that you asked [what sort of people buy the National Geographic magazine].

You asked [What do you think of the sort of people who read the National Geographic magazine?].

The first question implies that you do not know what the readership of National Geographic is. The second implies that you do.
Guest   Thu Aug 27, 2009 8:40 pm GMT
Eight days to come up with an excuse; bravo R.M.