If scrolling on my for-you-page has taught me anything this week, it’s that TikTok(or more specifically Booktok’s) favorite word is “anti-intellectualism”. Now, this isn’t by any means a new occurrence; if anything, discourse surrounding the current state of publishing is a recurring event that seems to revive itself every few months. It’s almost as though were stuck in a strange Groundhog Day, having the same arguments over and over again, but what seems to be the problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of why people are finding issues with popular books, what arguments are being made on both sides and even what anti-intellectualism means. So, let’s lay out all of the key players as cleanly and clearly as possible.Â
First off, before we go any further, I think it’s important that we define anti-intellectualism. Anti-intellectualism can be best and most concisely defined as a disdain and at times even distrust of intellectual thought or academic thinkers. You know, when someone says “college is such a waste” or “university is a scam,” those are excellent examples of anti-intellectualism. So, let’s take this definition and try to apply it to the Booktok case study.Â
The biggest problem people seem to have is poor writing, specifically within the contemporary romance and fantasy romance genres, with most people saying that the book recommendations they receive on TikTok are pushing the same story with the same low-quality writing, with some people even claiming that they fear the day when bookstores are completely overrun by poorly written trashy romance novels. Of course, if you are purely receiving information about publishing from the same three people, then yeah, I can understand the frustration. But I’m not so sure that it’s true that every book on the market right now looks the same, or even that every romance book on the market right now looks the same. Part of the main issue is that the books that go ultra viral tend to lack diversity of storytelling and even of the people who write them. At the same time, I’m compelled to consider the fact that we have free choice and have control over both our own social media algorithms as well as what books we buy.Â
This is not me trying to discredit the entire conversation. Instead, I think the major issue is that we lose sight of what reading is and what it isn’t. In 2025, there was a huge movement of people claiming that reading isn’t political, instead claiming that it’s a purely leisure activity meant to help you turn your brain off, or even that people have too much trouble with what they are reading. I have seen a myriad of complaints, from it being too juvenile to too academic. I feel as though this perfectly encapsulates what people mean when we find an issue with anti-intellectualism. We have this misconception that we have no responsibility for what we read and how it may impact our thoughts. Reading is political, and the authors you choose to support impact both yourself and the world around you. And contrary to popular belief, not all books are written for you and sometimes you won’t like how something is written, and that’s ok!
If you have found yourself at the heart of the anti-intellectualism debacle, the best piece of advice I can give you is to look for more diverse stories. It is perfectly fine to have genre preferences and want to stick to those preferences, so while I do encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, I completely understand wanting to stick to what you’re used to. Look for different authors within those genres you love and find something new and different in something comfortable. Also, find spaces online where you can find community. One of my favorite creators is serareadthat who has a mix of some more and less well-known books. I highly recommend taking a scroll through her page and finding something to add to your TBR!