Aliteracy - something that doesn't apply to any of us...

[Haggridd]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> Pippin wrote:
> 
> > 	Somehow these words made me imagine a bunch of Phoenician 
> > curmudgeons  complaining that this new fangled alphabet would be 
the 
> > death of story-telling...;) 
> 
> But you must admit they were right.  Storytelling--the actual, 
> out-loud spinning of tales--is almost unknown except in cultures 
where 
> literacy is very rare.  If you've ever had the joy of hearing a 
> storyteller, you know what a terrible loss that has been for our 
> literate culture.
> 
> Plato also warned that writing would be the death of memory, and he 
> was right also.  How many modern-day people can recite the Odyssey 
> aloud without reading it?
> 
> When a new medium becomes dominant, an old one tends to fade.  The 
new 
> one is not necessarily inferior to the old all told, but something 
is 
> lost, and it's important for us to remember what it is.  I, for one, 
> have grown up loving movies and books, and I'm very glad they both 
> exist, but I would rather have books than movies any day.
> 
> Amy Z
> who gets to read for pleasure and work at the same time--calloo! 
> callay!

I don't think that movies or television have quite replaced print yet. 
The expereinces are still different ennough, and the advantages of 
print are still evident enough that books will be around for the 
forseeable future, IMHO.

There is a major dichotomy between those who read for pleasure and 
those who do not. It is my observation that those who have read for 
pleasure as children maintain this throughout life, while people join 
the ranks of pleasure-readers at any age.  So pass your favorite work 
onto your aliterate acquaintances.  You may fan the feeble spark 
of passing interest into the roaring flame of pleasure-literacy.  
Arise, World!  You have nothing to lose but your remote controls!

Haggridd