The promoters of literacy are doing their
best to resist this change. Their motto is "Read anything, as
long as you read." They effectively discount any and all other
means of acquiring knowledge, and totally disenfranchise
individuals who cannot read. There are many avenues to
self-constitution: all our senses-including common
sense-repetition and memory. Some of these avenues are more
efficient than the medium of the book. If they were not, they
would not be succeeding as they do. The champions of literacy
also imply that anything acquired through reading is good. The
harm that can be transmitted through the book medium can be
recorded in volumes. On the collective level, it has led to
persecution and violence, even mass destruction. On the
individual level, it can lead to imbalance. The child who is
forced to read at age three is being deprived of time for
developing other skills essential to his or her physical and
mental well-being. The cognitive repertory of these children is
being stunted by well meaning but misguided parents. It is being
stunted, too, by the market that sells literacy as though there
were no tomorrow despite the fact that literacy has lost its
dominant position in our lives.
Topos uranikos distributed
This book began by contrasting the readers of the past to today's
typical literate: Zizi the hairdresser and her boyfriend, the
taxi driver with the college degree in political science.
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