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The Orality Theory of Everything: The decline of reading and the rise of social media are again transforming what it feels like to be a thinking person
This "theory" is based on a complete failure to consider the actual experience of existing at any other point in time. They do not bother to understand oral cultures beyond their prejudice against the past—for example, they attribute Biblical historical inconsistencies to cynical revision, when they were often the intentional use of genre that were recognizable to contemporary audiences. It's only "lying" to an outsider who refuses to engage with the culture. They make the exact same mistake with literary culture in the opposite direction, as if there has ever been a society that takes primary direction from reasoned literary argument.
The arguments to frame the internet, a technology that requires more people to spend more time writing than at any other point, as "oral" are absurd. It only serves to frame their grievances within a grand historical lens.
Power-throw | 11 hours ago
Absolutely loved this piece - thanks for sharing.
Definitely an upgrade from my recently held “smartphone theory of everything,” which had started to feel a little stale.
SugarSpiceNChemicalX | 13 hours ago
Archive link: https://archive.is/mBJ3w
asentientgrape | an hour ago
This "theory" is based on a complete failure to consider the actual experience of existing at any other point in time. They do not bother to understand oral cultures beyond their prejudice against the past—for example, they attribute Biblical historical inconsistencies to cynical revision, when they were often the intentional use of genre that were recognizable to contemporary audiences. It's only "lying" to an outsider who refuses to engage with the culture. They make the exact same mistake with literary culture in the opposite direction, as if there has ever been a society that takes primary direction from reasoned literary argument.
The arguments to frame the internet, a technology that requires more people to spend more time writing than at any other point, as "oral" are absurd. It only serves to frame their grievances within a grand historical lens.
This is just Sapir-Whorf for Tweets.