This is just silly ... the incipit of a piece from the New York Times:
... you can read about the reaction here, but you can probably imagine it. FWIW, I find it interesting that no one seems to be admitting that they've read Plato's Republic ...
Time was when it seemed safe to regard the works of Plato as intellectually superior to the racy romance novels of, say, Nora Roberts. In underground Washington, those days are over.
Consider the hoo-ha over new subway posters that try to capitalize on the percentage of people with advanced degrees living in the region.
The Greater Washington Initiative, a business group devoted to attracting investment to the area, put up the posters, which feature side-by-side photographs: of a man reading Plato’s “Republic,” under the caption “Greater Washington Subway Reading,” and of the same man poring over a romance novel, under the caption “Average Subway Reading.”
The reaction from romance writers — and readers — was as fast and heated as a steamy sex scene.
... you can read about the reaction here, but you can probably imagine it. FWIW, I find it interesting that no one seems to be admitting that they've read Plato's Republic ...