Is It Really That Big A Deal That Kanye West Doesn’t Like To Read?

I have to ask, is it really that big of a deal that Kanye West doesn’t much care for reading? I’m talking about the quote where he purportedly stated:

Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.

I’ve heard a lot of people getting mad about this, and I can somewhat see why…a little bit. It does seem to be a bit anti-intellectual, at least on the surface. I definitely don’t believe people read enough and don’t agree with the sentiment.

However, did everyone previously think that Kanye was a big reader? Is this a surprise? Even if someone is outraged by the fact that Kanye is proud of this instead of embarrassed, did people expect Kanye to be embarrassed about any aspect of himself? I mean, this is Kanye. Whether he is really like what he seems in the media or whether this is a persona he creates, this seems totally in keeping with the image of Kanye I’ve picked up so far.

As for people worrying about Kanye influencing people not to read, I can’t think that anyone who would be influenced so easily would have been reading much to begin with. I’m sure plenty of Kanye fans read, and those who don’t listen to his music probably won’t listen to his opinions on this, but do you really think any of his reader fans would follow his thoughts on this?

Frankly, I do have to give Kanye at least a little benefit of the doubt that he was trying to say that he preferred interaction with actual people over reading about people. Even if I like both reading and interacting with actual people and think the two serve different functions, the sentiment would at least have a little more appealing logic.

But, even if this means exactly what it seems to, why do most people care? If they don’t dig Kanye, why would they care that he doesn’t read? I don’t think it’s good if he doesn’t value books at all, but I’m sure he wouldn’t think it was good (if he had a reason to care who I was) that I don’t take the time to listen to his music.

Bottom line, I just don’t see why this is such a big deal. I don’t agree with what Kanye is apparently saying, but I’m not really surprised about that either.