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yea i realized a few years ago we were lied to back in high school

And, so commonly, oblivious to any of this himself. Next stop Ayn Rand. I've tried to expunge Walden from my mind, but I'll note that it was pretty useful getting dates in college ("university", said EU)

I read Walden when I was 16 without knowing anything about him. I’ve never felt so enlightened as that time. I don’t care about the literary critiques and background information. That book lit a fire in my young mind

I don't know why you're getting down voted. Thoreau was a world class slacker and leach. A friend of mine did a paper on him back in college. If you read through his correspondence with R.W. Emmerson it's obvious how he was coddled.

EDIT: I think the hyper judgemental part about people liking him wanting to be like him. That part might be disingenuous, if only because he didn't really espouse his own actual lifestyle in his writing.