Re: virus: Too Much TV

KMO (kmo@c-realm.com)
Fri, 09 Apr 1999 15:31:16 -0700

Language is adapting, by necessity, to work in the stream-lined time scale of the electronic age. I agree that this is happening and that it is a good thing.

What is also happening is that increasing numbers of fifteen-year-olds are starring at lines of print, furroughing their brows and struggling to get out, "I... can... see... the... cat..." Spending an average of 6 hours a day (a full third of their waking lives) watching television is a significant part of the cause of this appalling situation. As a nation, we watch too much fucking television, and our kids, while still marvelously intelligent, adaptive, and miraculously resilient, are increasingly functional illiterates who have been thoroughly indoctrinated in what William Finnegan calls "the tepid faith of liberal consumerism." Sure, they're more comfortable with technology than their parents, but that is to be expected, and the sacrifice of literacy is not a required toll for young people to be adapted and at home in their media saturated environment.

-KMO

Bill Roh wrote:

> Yes, I agree for the most part. i do think that at the elementary school
> level, the US is doing well, statistically speaking, its about 6th-7th grade
> that our schools start failing. And there are still some excellent public
> schools, though that number is certainly in question. I agree that proper and
> business English is suffering right now, and that it is causing harm.
>
> What I meant in my 5 word foray is: Due to the speed of communication, people
> that communicate in the way we do, Email, news groups, instant messages,
> etc... especially the young, are evolving this new computer speak we have.
> Many find fault with this, I don't. I think we have the opportunity to make a
> new, fast and highly functional language, a literacy standard like your
> definition below made up of CYAs and LOLs.
>
> Bill Roh
>
> KMO wrote:
>
> > I have considerable sympathy for this idea. Even so, literacy as defined
> > as the ability to look at strings of static words on a page or screen and
> > effortlessly and spontaneously have images and complex ideas form in
> > one's consciousness as a result of that activity is a skill that is
> > imparted less and less by public education but is still consistently
> > imparted to students in private academies and by home schooling. It's not
> > the only means of conveying or receiving information, and those, like
> > Harold Bloom, author of "Closing of the American Mind," who define
> > cultural literacy as familiarity with the cannon of Western Civilization
> > are oblivious to important new ways of thinking and communicating.
> >
> > Still, the ability to express oneself in writing and to be able to read
> > and comprehend what others have written is a valuable skill that improves
> > ones ability to navigate consciously in a memetic landscape. It is also a
> > skill that the institutions of public education in the US are
> > increasingly unable to impart to students.
> >
> > -KMO
> >
> > Sodom wrote:
> >
> > > Literacy isn't falling - its adapting
> > >
> > > Bill Roh
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: owner-virus@lucifer.com
> > > > [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com]On Behalf
> > > > Of KMO
> > > > Sent: Friday, April 09, 1999 2:05 PM
> > > > To: virus@lucifer.com
> > > > Subject: virus: Too Much TV
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Dr Sebby wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Downfall?..sometimes i wonder where it is 'we're' falling from.
> > > >
> > > > As a society, literacy.
> > > >
> > > > -KMO
> > > >