This is a clip from one of my favorite shows. In the clip, pundit Stephen Colbert shows (hilariously) how America's reading level has gone down significantly while also taking jabs at BP CEO Tony Hayward. Watching it I thought about the second chapter of Amusing Ourselves to Death. In Media as Epistemology, Postman talks about our shift in thought and generally shows that being able to read, "constitutes a primary definition of intelligence in a culture." If our culture cannot understand a speech written "at near a 10th grade level," then how can we grow as a culture or people? Newspapers and magazines are slowly dying as the digital age comes and even books are becoming electronic. I know Mrs. Fletcher and Mrs. Sweick would probably have a heart attack if they found out print is dead, but some say it is imminent. So my question is: if print dies, will this culture still grow?
Paper and glue may go...I hate to think of it. But it might. But the narrative voice is what makes us human...the story goes on. And I think text as a vehicle for that narrative carries meaning that audio/video cannot. The reverse is also true. Image and sound often impart meaning we don't get from the written word.
ReplyDeleteThe question: which DELIVERY SYSTEM encourages more critical thinking? which DELIVERY SYSTEM appeals to raw emotion? which tends to encourage a superficial understanding?
When I'm watching TV, I don't necessarily want to be engaged in critical thinking. I want to be superficial. My critical brain is pooped, and I simply want to be entertained. In fact, if I'm sitting with someone who has their critical brain turned on, and who wants to dissect inconsistencies in the story AS PRESENTED ON TV, I become irritated and start talking about THE TRANSACTION, the suspension of disbelief, blah blah blah. Or I leave the room. Don't mess with my superficial brain...it wants to veg. But I can't live there in the superficial brain. It would be like living on McDonald's hamburgers
P.S. I love my electronic books. I love my paper and glue books. I love my internet connection. I love my magazines and newspapers. I love it. Don't take any of them away from me.
ReplyDeleteAs this being a show I also enjoy, he uses his ability of "entertainment" to prove a point. Knowing people that watch T.V. are just watching to be merely entertained, he discusses how our reading level is nearly at insipid, unintelligent levels. If print dies so does our intelligence, so does our purpose of being on earth and everything and anything that goes with education. We could probably still thrive (if print vanished) on information and knowledge we've already have so far but that will only last so long until we stop growing and stop learning.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Colbert's right: stupidity is pervasive. But we can resist that slide toward stupidity in ourselves. And we must.
ReplyDeleteWhat would happen if print dies?
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can know exactly what will happen if print dies, but we can infer. I think that if print died our knowledge would too. Sure books will be in computers and there would be eBooks available but when its not on print people will be too lazy to get off of Facebook or whatever they are into, to read a book. What about legalities that need to be signed and read? How will we know it was in the right hands and not in someone else's pretending to be whoever the papers were for? I don't think our culture will grow if print would vanish.
I agree with Mrs Fletcher on the point that you have two different brains. When I am watching t.v., I want to be entertained. However, when I am reading a book I have to sit down and dissect the book piece by piece to try to understand the point or main idea. Electronic books and online articles are nice, but I prefer to read an old-fashioned hard cover book. I get enough technology everyday so I find it relaxing to turn off the computer and curl up with a book in my hands. Whether print dies or not, I believe we will still be educated and culture will continue to grow. As the days go on, more and more people are finding ways to take advantage of technology to see what is happening in the world around them. Even social networking sites tend to inform us of current events. Whether one has felt an earthquake or not, you can count on Facebook or Twitter to tell you all about it. So my main point is that I do not believe print will die in the near future, but at the same time, technology is becoming just as influential as a newspaper or magazine, if not more. I believe the real question here is "Which is more informative and reliable: a newspaper or an online article?"
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ReplyDeleteOne day I asked Ms. Swieck what the difference was between her students now and her pupils from the 80's. She told me that students acted the same and were just as lovable back then, but the most "standout" difference was the quality of work. Our 8th/10th grade mentor often scoffed at many of our essays and projects. She would pull out amazing, wrinkled works-of-art that were decades (okay, years) old.
ReplyDeleteAs social networking has grown, a new sense of anxiety and perpetual "busy-ness" has developed among our fellow peers. Our generation tends to split our concentration. I can imagine a student from the 80s spending quality time with his/her pencil and paper to write a quality essay. Today, a student would typically spend less than an hour writing a "BS" essay after spending hours on instant messanger or Facebook. Furthermore, with the convenient accessibly of e-Books and the news via the internet, printed paraphernalia will die with the generation that it was linked to. How many people do you still see with walk-man cassette players?
Therefore, the death of print will not be the death of our culture. It will be the development of a new one. It’s morphing as we speak.
Quang not only was this very amusing it was very enlightening. I am quite ashamed to be a part of the group of people that couldn't understand a speech written at a grade level that is below graduating. I often even hear many people ask silly geography questions like "since when did Las Vegas not have a beach?" (I will not hurt feeling by revealing who asked this) Simple things like this drive me absolutely crazy. How do highschool graduates and who cant understand a 10th grade level speech function properly in society? How are they understand the propositions that they must vote on if they cant understand the bill? This fact leaves me in horror. But enough of my rambling, I believe that if print dies, our culture will move on with television and like Mark said our culture will develop with the next medium. However the kind of culture that will evolve will be a very unintelligent one if the people that belong to it dont know where Finland is and dont understand what their president is telling them.
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