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>From: Robert Rosenstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> It seems to me that the thrust of all this, if it continues, is away from
> a society in which everybody is (should be) reading and writing literate
> to one in which the overwhelming majority will be culturally-content with
> their daily entertainments (movies, sitcoms, music videos, award shows,
> specials), and manufactured news bits. In such a situation, there will be
> a privatization of knowledge, owned by the few and used for the benefit
> of the few - which is almost the situation, now.
Thomas:
A couple of thoughts on the above paragraph. Most listening, watching
technologies are time specific. Though you have mentioned several times the
attribute of being able to listen while doing something else, I would
comment that retention, reflection and musing get lost as the data stream
continues uninterruped. The minute you take your attention from the TV,
radio or other media, there is no going back to catch what was missed. It
is much like riding on a train. As long as you sit at the window looking
out, you can see the current scenery, but you can't replay that which has
just went past, nor recapture that which happened while you glanced away or
left your seat for a minute. The strength of reading as learning
information medium is that you can go back and re-read or compare with other
information and reflect on the juxtaposition of thought that has been
presented.
Similarly, with speaking. It is a spontaneous event, unless speaking from
something memorized. For most people, speaking is not prethought, it is
just a reflex action and the speaker is often surprised or delighted or
ashamed of what came out of his mouth as is the listener. Also, speaking
limits vocabulary to approx 5000 common words in the language. While
writing allows a greater vocabulary and language more specifically used.
Writing, focus's the communicator specifically on his message, allows
complex themes to be developed, fosters rational thought and specificity
rather than the generalizations commonly used when speaking. A large part
of this is dealt with in great depth by Marshal McLuhan and his observations
that TV and radio represent a sensory change from visual (reading and
writing) to an oral society, which most of prehistory and history up until
Guttenburg operated in. Oral societies are often tribal, ruled by emotion
and passion, foster different lifestyles and focus on different aspects of
reality than a visual society. According to McLuhan, media shape the
sensorium of individuals and his major theme was that we are creating new
media which is reshaping the majority of the populations sensory intake
which will have the effect of changing society in ways that are totally
different from political philosophy's, economic theories and cultures.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
