Why would anyone pay attention to some online half-wit just because they look good and call themselves an "influencer?"
I've long been baffled by this phenomenon, which seems prevalent among the younger generations. Fortunately my kids, now all in their 30s and 40s, have proven immune; I chalk that up to good upbringing. Most of these "influencers" have nothing to recommend them other than their looks. Many of them are ignorant to the nth degree, with the attention span of a bluebottle fly and the cultural refinement of a pocket gopher.
Now, though, one new "influencer" has appeared, and she is apparently bragging about something that's a real jaw-dropper: She has never read a book.
Oh, well, except for maybe a Dr. Seuss book. The Telegraph’s India McTaggart has the account, and about it I can only say this: Good grief.
One of my generation’s IT-girls has just admitted, with no apparent shame, that she has not read a single book. In a rapid-fire style of questioning during a video for Interview Magazine, the American influencer and entrepreneur Alix Earle, 25, was asked to name the last book she had read.
Without hesitation, she responds: “I’ve never read a book,” before adding, “like, maybe Dr Seuss,” and laughing. With embarrassment? I can’t be sure, but God do I hope so. The response has been swift and rightly damning, but it’s her brazenness about such a humiliating confession that terrifies me as a fellow Gen Z.
In her unthinking comment, Earle, a University of Miami marketing graduate, has exposed herself as both the example and the problem in our headfirst plunge towards becoming a near post-literate society.
Post-literate? How about just plain illiterate?
Now, there's a photo of this young woman with the linked article, and yes, she's objectively quite attractive; I can see why young men in particular would be drawn to watch her do whatever it is she does online. I haven't bothered to look into it myself, because 1) I'd rather watch paint dry, and 2) I am not inclined to give any traffic to someone who brags about their semi-literacy.
Still — this child has a college degree? How on earth did she get through college without reading a book? Any book?
Here's how this child came to be famous, thus, an "influencer."
She rose to fame in late 2022 through her viral “Get Ready With Me” videos on TikTok, in which she would candidly discuss her life, US college experience, struggles with cystic acne and partying.
Just four years later she is a celebrity in her own right, worth a reported £9m (according to Forbes) and with a following of around 15 million people across Instagram and TikTok. She sold £3.8m worth of skincare products before close of play on her brand’s launch day and now has her own Netflix reality show, Earle Meets World, to boot.
Oh, for the luvva Pete.
While we could go on for hours about the stupidity of this entire notion of "influencers" - nobody with enough brains to pound sand should be influenced by these people — I'm more concerned with the notion that anyone would think that never having read a book is some kind of brag point.
From the time I was very young, I read books. My parents were big readers; my father in particular, whenever he was sitting still, always had a book at his side. Sometimes a novel, sometimes a book on biology, geology, physics or philosophy. I've related many times the tale of how, when I was about 14, he handed me a copy of Aristotle's Metaphysics, ordered me to read it, and discussed it with me afterward.
There are things to be found in books that simply can't be found anywhere else. The nuts that shout about the need to make all higher education free, are missing that key point: Knowledge is free, you can find all you need at your local library, but it won't just be poured into your head; you have to read. Knowledge isn't free; you have to work for it. Education, as in formal institutions of learning, won't always give you everything you need, either.
Reading. That's the key. Read the classics, from Shakespeare to Hemingway; there are reasons they are called "classics." Read non-fiction, on whatever topics suit you. (You might consider my latest.) But the best way to learn things, to amass knowledge, to become a more rounded person, to expand your intellect, is to read books. Read books on matters you know you will agree with. Perhaps even more important, read books on matters you know you will disagree with; challenge your presumptions. Read, read, read; knowledge is something nobody can ever take away from you, and a primary way to amass that knowledge comes from reading books.
That's why the case of this Alix Earle is so pathetic, and so sad. And now, there are young skulls full of mush who are following this young woman, paying her to do whatever it is she does online — I won't speculate as to what that might be — who are watching her bragging about her marginal literacy, chortling in a Beavis and Butthead-like tone, and thinking, "How cool, she never read a book."
