The Emergence of Post-Literate Society
The Emergence of a Post-Literate Society
By
J. Otto Pohl
The collapse of literacy and reading in US society is at this point apparent to everyone. Where once people read thick newspapers daily now they just scroll their phones. Book reading has declined even further. The average scholarly historical treatment of a subject will be lucky if it can sell a couple of thousand copies over a period of years. All that remains are a few popular fiction writers mostly in the police procedural genre some of whom are quite good technically and fairly entertaining. But, aside from these few remaining and aging writers remaining from the 1980s and 1990s like Michael Connelly, John Sandford, and Jonathan Kellerman there is almost no reading in the US. Even coming across somebody reading a book is now considered so unusual where I live that it always elicits a response. The fact is that now except for a few very poor working class Whites reading is something that belongs to the past and not the present in the US.
This transition into post-literacy is often explained by technological developments. But, television was around for decades without completely destroying the habit of reading newspapers, magazines, and books. It has only been very recently since the development of the IPhone that younger generations have completely eschewed picking up books. This has coincided with other negative social trends. All of which have moved society towards a lower and lower level of intellectual activity.
Having taught middle school briefly I don’t see any way to reverse this trend. The parents of today’s children long ago gave up reading under the pretext that it did not earn them any money and only money was important. This mindset which they have thoroughly ingrained in their children is an impossible one to counter. Nobody is going to choose to be well educated and knowledgeable, but poor over being ignorant and rich. Indeed the increasing presence of completely unread people incapable of abstract thought in middle and upper management has become the norm. There is absolutely no incentive for people motivated solely by money to read or otherwise expand their knowledge base.
I can no longer be optimistic about the future of the US. It is run on all levels by people who would rather have an extra dollar than learn anything about history, philosophy, literature, or culture. The very worst Marxist caricature of capitalist society as one that completely rejects scholarship and learning in favor of the crudest mercenary activity has come true.
Hello Mr. Pohl, I've been *reading* your gripping book, The Years of Silence.
Dear Men of Leisure:
Books should be outlawed to prevent being educated beyond intelligence ending in embarrassing podcaster failures.
It all started with Cliffs Notes. After that everybody got lazy and it all turned to click bait.
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Dorn, revised 1972 isn't all that bad of a reference. Some might find the suggestion that they don't know how to read a book insulting.
The comment about contempory the number of writers and authors born 1980s having any literary influence on that generation with a despairingly desperate desire to change the world can name few.
As for the po white boy having the Protestant work ethic where hard work has its own reward not getting nickel for every page in a book he has read just might be a reason to live another day. That's something to sort out for each.