Sometimes a computer game is better than a book, Victor Malm

Jimmy Håkansson wonders what is so bad about "data play".

In a column about the fading male existence in the cultural columns, the newly appointed head of culture at Expressen, Viktor Malm, writes that "boys do stupid things and girls think".

What nonsense do boys do instead of studying and mastering fine arts? A television game.

In the Youth Barometer 2022, you can read those young girls mostly identify as feminists and boys as "gamers". Or, as Victor says: "girls are smart, boys play with data".

Malm has noticed this not least in the new generation of cultural studies. This, coupled with the fact that fewer and fewer men are reading books, suggests an ominous spiral.

No men are writing books, no one is reading books, and thus no one is writing about the books they have read.

It is touching that Victor Malm is as appalled by the decline of men's cultural capital as he is by the dismissive attitude toward video games. In the latter, he is not alone.

In 2010, the famous film critic Roger Ebert exclaimed: "Video games can never be art!". Roger Ebert was convinced that video games, which he had not played, would never reach the same artistic level as the movies he watched, the books he read, or the music he listened to.

And when Elsa Westerstad compiled a list of Sweden's 75 most powerful cultures for Fokus magazine a couple of years ago, she failed to notice that the world's biggest YouTuber at the time was Swedish.

In the following response, she wrote: "Unfortunately, I have to disappoint all gamers again: and this time the gaming industry is absent, and Pudipi probably wouldn't be happy about it anyway. We don't think the height of what he's doing is enough."

The setting is so old school that I am reminded of the ancient Greeks, and one ancient Greek in particular.

Socrates was not a fan of the written word. He thought it was nonsense, stupidity. A bit like the ancient equivalent of Fortnite. A true intellectual needed not to write and especially not to read - but to remember.

In other words, if Socrates lived today, he would not be placed in the columns of culture either.

"It's touching that Victor Malm is as appalled by the decline of men's cultural capital as he is by the dismissive attitude towards video games. He is not alone in the latter," - Jimmy Håkansson

Orebro coach Niklas Ericsson - about the situation in the team on the eve of Saturday's home match against Timra: read all the details here!

Even so, it is surprising what intellectual values Victor Malm ascribes to the identities of feminist and gamer respectively. Like silly games (believe me, I've played a few), I'm sure not all feminists are familiar with the thinking of Simone de Beauvoir or even Valerie Solana.

I believe that at least one or two have borrowed their beliefs from TikTok clips and inspirational quotes from influential people.

In what seems like a funny coincidence, the other day I learned that YouTuber Felix "Pudipee" Kellberg has started reviewing books on his YouTube channel, which has over 100 million subscribers.

I saw a clip of him talking warmly about John William Stoner and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Then I saw a clip where he neglected his horse Jorgen in Minecraft.

I have never called myself a gamer, but television and computer games have always been of great interest. This interest is so great that some games are included in sports competitions (e-sports) and, according to http://www.oddsbett.com/, they are even bet on by the best bookmakers in Sweden. Although today I read more books than play games. But a pleasant gaming memory is when I played Bioshock in 2007 - a great game set in a former utopian underwater society that has been smashed to pieces.

When I was told that the premise was inspired by and critically analyzed by Ayn Rand's let go capitalist bible "And the World Shook", I was intrigued by the book.

A book that, among other things, inspired such economic bullies as Alan Greenspan and this or that conservative think tank.

Anyway, I read it. Only to realize that sometimes the game is better than the book.