Games developed around video technology train children to behave
like laboratory rats that learn a maze by rote. They grow up
accepting the politics of telegenic competition, a poor
substitute for competence and commitment. Their vote is focused
on brands, regardless of whether they regard political choices or
cereals. Addressed en masse, such viewers gel in the mass image
of polls that rapidly succeed one another. That technology makes
possible alternatives to literacy embodied in the visual is
unquestionable. To what extent these alternatives carry with them
previous determinations and constraints, or they correspond to a
new stage in human civilization, is the crux of the matter. The
degree of necessity and thus the efficiency of any new form of
visual expression, communication, or interaction can be
ascertained only in how individuals constitute themselves
through practical activities coherently integrating the visual.
There is no higher form of empowerment than in the fulfillment of
our individual possibilities. Telegenic or not, a president or a
TV star has little, if any, impact on our fulfillment in the
interconnected world of our time.
Television implies a great deal of language, but such language
frees the audience from the requirement of literacy. You do not
need to know how to write or read to watch TV; you need to be in
command of a limited part of spoken language in order to
understand a TV show, even to actively participate in it-from
going on a game show to using cable networks, videotex, or
interactive programs, exploring the Internet, or setting up a
presence on the network.
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