In the article “Reading and Thought”, Dwight Macdonald discusses a divide between the miscellaneous readings that surround us and reading that requires thought and their role within modern society. The main idea behind his essay is functional curiosity, or a strong desire to know about anything that will help an individual . He mentions Henry Luce, a man who built a media empire on journalism, and discusses Luce’s definition of functional curiosity, which to him operates as a motive within society to consume informative media since there is a common held belief that being well-informed is necessary to an individual’s survival. Macdonald emphasizes his argument that functional curiosity can only be functional when it helps an individual function, citing that modern …show more content…
To begin, functional curiosity is something innate within us all; it’s the desire to learn about something that we believe will help us survive and function properly within society. Macdonald argues that there are only specific benefits that functional curiosity grants you. Yet, functional curiosity is an extremely subjective idea, as what one may believe as not functional may actually be necessary to one’s survival. A great example of why functional curiosity within its true definition is meaningful to the current state of society is climate change. Climate change is a phenomenon that has long lasting implications for the livelihood of our survival. If the media wasn’t there to inform us about climate change, the topic of sustainability wouldn’t even dwell within our minds. The sustainability movement has become extremely important within the past few years. Functional curiosity has propelled the sustainability movement to where it’s at today, something very integral to the survival of future generations. Functional curiosity contributes to an individual’s motivation to be informed in our continually evolving