Into the Future

     Around 3:00 a.m. I was awake ponder two things: 1. Why the neighbors do not buy a leash for their dog and instead opt for letting the fuzzball run free only to scream his name at all hours. The dog's name is Napoleon, but they yell Napo which as it carries in the Livingston wind sounds like taco. It is like living near an all night taco stand. 2. If we began with an oral culture, then moved into this secondary orality, what's next? Since I figure by now you have about as much interest in the taco dog next door as I do at the moment, let's grab our magical crystal balls (I think Bruno may approve) and look to the future.

     Kane has given us hope that since people have finally figured out how useful stories from the oral tradition truly are that they may not be lost after all. It is sad that it took pharmaceutical companies to stimulate people to care about the myths before many thought they had value, but at least they are being preserved. So, we can look forward to more people acknowledging the importance of oral communities and culture. This, in my opinion is good. Yes, yes,yes, good, good, good.

     Next, I see a bit of an odd backwards slide as kids have no idea how to spell using vowels thanks to the texting craze. Okay, I am basing this one from the facebook posts of my daughter and her friends. Still, we must fight to save our vowels!! Without them, we are losing our power of literacy. Our only hope lies in spell check. Perhaps the computers can bring us though this generation who seem intent on hitting the delete button on a,e,i,o,u. They are keeping y, but using it as an entire word.

   There is a great interest in myth among young people. This is due to video games, and anime; the creators tend to pull from the mythic traditions when creating the background stories in these entertainment genres. I am not sure how well this preserves the myth, but perhaps when they get older they can find a connection and finally read the entire myth without the digital input.

    I truly believe that the internet has created an even greater interest in holding the media to a higher standard, preserving books and stories, and generating a greater interest in a global community. It is difficult to make up a story and pass it off as factual when there are countless people checking and double checking your "facts". Not long ago, there was a problem with a reporter for the New York Times in which a reporter was found to have misled the public. (See link below). This is no longer a time of yellow journalism, people are held to a higher standard in most cases. Of course readers must still be careful, there are those who only try to use the "news" to promote their own agenda. On the other side of the debate, there are those who try to silence the opinion of reporters. I will not comment on which side of the Fox News debate I find correct; I feel that is up to people to decide for themselves. It is however, a good example of the tug of war that happens in the media, and as the story points out, President Obama is not the first President to take issue with a media organization. I do not believe this is the last we will hear of a news organization being questioned.

NYT link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Obama vs. Fox News (CBS coverage of the story):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ1gkLqBmlg

    Truly what matters is that we continue to be vigilant about free speech. If thorough literacy we grow as a culture, we must be assured of the right to express thought without fear. This is where we must also be sure to be honest. We owe it to each other to always be as honest as possible. When there is no trust, when people begin spreading lies and gossip, we lose the credibility for the whole. Truth and free speech, in my opinion, go hand in hand. We cannot allow people to lie, yet we want everyone to express thought. There is a delicate balance that on a personal level is simple to maintain. By holding others to the same standard and by setting the example, this becomes easier for the whole as well. With all the information we now have at our very fingertips, we must be smart about what we believe and how we conduct ourselves. If we fail, the future freedoms of literacy could come under fire.

     Communication in the future will, no doubt, become even faster. How this is possible is beyond my imagination. I am still amazed with email and remember thinking a fax was incredible. I suppose then, I will let the more tech savvy ponder this. I only hope I am not left behind.

     I am quite optimistic about the future of literacy and the preservation of our stories. Especially when I see the enthusiasm of classes such as this one. If I could be granted two things which I feel would take us safely to our next level of orality, I would ask for honesty and that the importance of memory would be guaranteed to be passed on to future generations. We must not allow the palace walls to fall.