After episode 2 of Miss Universe Vietnam aired, Ky Duyen's presentation was shared on forums, sparking many controversies.
The controversy is currently ongoing and never-ending. Ky Duyen had to speak up to clarify, saying that she had not said everything she wanted to say, and because of too much pressure, she stood "dumbfounded" on stage when asked about the role of books.
Many people think that the beauty is just making excuses for her disappointing performance at Miss Universe Vietnam. And it is difficult for the audience to verify whether Ky Duyen reads books or not, and whether she reads books to "recite lessons" or truly turns it into a personal need.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, writer Di Li said that each individual has autonomy and decides for themselves whether to read books or not.
But the writer believes that famous people need to be careful in their speech, especially when they have been in showbiz for many years.
Writer Di Li said: "Reading makes people more compassionate. I think that is an important value for people. Good books have the values of truth, goodness and beauty, guiding people towards good things, improving aesthetic thinking.
The story of Vietnamese people being lazy to read books has been discussed for many years.
According to statistics from the Vietnam Publishing Association in 2023, currently textbooks and school reference books account for the majority of books on the market.
If we put these two types of books aside and divide the rest evenly across the population, Vietnamese people read about 1.2 books/person/year.
According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam currently has only 30% of people reading books regularly, 44% reading books occasionally and 26% not reading books.
These figures show that in reality, not every Vietnamese person reads 1 book/year. Maybe 1 out of 10 people reads 10 books/year and 9 people don’t read any books at all.
Writer Di Li commented that the development of social networks has caused many people around the world to read less, not just in Vietnam. However, Vietnamese people already read less than other countries, and now they read even less.
"Social media and audio-visual devices are entertaining, but they are instantaneous entertainment. With less time available, even those who love to read may struggle to find a few hours to read every day. Sitting still for a few hours is difficult for even book lovers, let alone those who have never read a book in their entire lives.
Children should read books from a young age. But if parents do not read books, children will be lazy, and if adults do not set an example, children will not read books. When they grow up, those people will not read books and, more broadly, a society will not read books. That is very dangerous," said writer Di Li.
There are many reasons why Vietnamese people read less, including family, school, each individual and the development of audio-visual equipment.
If grandparents and parents do not have the habit of reading, they cannot foster the habit of reading in their children from a young age.
Growing up, with the modern pace of life and the habit of using social networks, many people have distanced themselves from reading books, even thinking that reading books is unnecessary.
