Opus 2025-491: Literacy Is Overrated

Down through history the percentage of the people who were literate was very small.  For most people it had little or no value and the amount of time and effort it took to learn put it beyond their reach.  Even heads of state and commanders of armies often could not read.  They had scribes and priest to do that for them.  Of course that put them at the mercy of the scribes and priest and that worked out in history also.

The value of literacy depends upon access to truth.  It doesn’t do you much good to have a literate population if nothing they read is true or accurate.  Of course, part of the dumbing down process is to separate the general population from the ability to discern what is true and accurate.  I have been conditioned to believe that liver is a disgusting thing to eat.  I continually come across people who rave about the liver and onions that they’ve had and tell me that the only reason I don’t like it is because it was not prepared properly.  They make sense, but I’m not willing to listen.  I am even less willing to try it.  It is similar to the people who say that real communism has never been tried.

The implementation of the intersection of literacy and truth depends on open and free dialogue.  I think of how the American colonies responded to the Federalist Papers as each chapter was published in local newspapers.  The picture you get is that when the local citizens would gather at the pub to have a pint and discuss the publications, the discussion was free and far ranging.  In those days, people gathered at the pub to discuss philosophy, politics and economics.  Today they gather at the pub to get drunk and watch football.

Literacy is only valuable if you are willing to think about what you read.  For everyday tasks the written word is often optional.  Have you ever bought a piece of furniture from IKEA?  You have to assemble it yourself and the instructions have no words.  It would be interesting to find out if being literate made it easier for you to understand picture writing.

homo unius libri