P7: America the Illiterate

“Culture is being destroyed in order to yield entertainment.” -Hannah Arendt

I found the statistics Hannah Arendt presented about the level of vocabulary used at Presidential debates shocking. I had no idea that politicians, who we consider to be highly educated and appoint to make important decisions, would use such poor communication skills. It's also astonishing to think that there is so much illiteracy within the US. Illiteracy has never been something I would think to encounter in a highly developed and powerful country yet around 1/3 of the population is illiterate or semi literate.

I also found Arendt's idea of an America divided by their use of print versus the Internet very interesting. I think that literacy can definitely be a means for division between people because it's a skill so essential that it can impact how people think and act but a preference for print or Internet can also be important. Older generations, my grandparents included, don't even have computers or use the Internet. As information becomes increasingly available on the Internet, how do newspapers and magazines fare? As their clientele becomes smaller and smaller, how much longer will the world of printed word survive?

I think that Carr and Arendt make similar points; each leaning more towards the positive or the negative. Carr acknowledges that the Internet will change the way we think and write but that it is not necessarily for the negative. Arendt makes the argument that the Internet, and computers in general, have caused a downward trend in quality of writing and vocabulary in the United States.  I think that both arguments bring compelling ideas to the table and that it is equally important to consider the pros and cons of the Internet as it becomes more and more essential. I think that the Internet, as a media source, will continue to bring new questions to media studies in regards to ethics, writing, and information.