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August 30, 2005

The Written Word

Some have bemoaned the demise of the written word in modern society. Electronic entertainment and communication is said to be the cause of many a technology-numbed mind. The experts contend that computer dependence instills laziness. The dumbing down of America began with political correctness in the classroom and has been increased ten fold by the dawning of the email, text-message, instant-message age. The written word, once the primary means of education, communication and entertainment has taken a back seat to the electronic media. We are doomed to lives of uneducated, uninspired, misery.

So, how do these experts predict we will express ourselves? Have we become computer-numbed robotrons, our creativity stifled? Where is that natural human inclination to explore, the curiosity to learn, the drive to express oneself? Where do they propose these human tendencies have gone? Do you think these alarmists have taken a tour of the internet lately? Have they witnessed the growing popularity of the weblog? The shared creativity and flow of written ideas in the blogosphere is beyond comprehension. The lines of communication are open. The walls and fences separating nations and neighbors have been erased. Aside from countries slow to embrace the concept of freedom, much of the industrialized world now has access to computers. In this, an incredible amount of information and an unrestricted means of communication is at our fingertips. The world is ours, and much of that in written form. Languages survive and the barriers between them disappear - victory through the written word.

Thoreau said:

To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.

I must admit that Thoreau's idea of "true books" and mine are galaxies apart, but his passion is what matters. It is this passion that I hope to harness here and impart on these pages. Take Thoreau's vision for book reading and apply it to your reading today. Whether it be story or editorial, fact or fiction, blogger or reporter... take the author's words and read them "as deliberately and reservedly as they were written."

The inspiration for the title to this blog was obviously Dead Poets Society, in which an incredible teacher awakens his students to a creative vision of life. It is my hope that here, in my entries, I will explore and travel this same road. This blog is about language, writing and the joy these heartfelt words may impart to both reader and author. The blog, for many, has become the modern equivalent of the pulpit and the church steps. It is where we learn about ourselves, the world around us and impart this wisdom (and sometimes the gossip) to others.

And so, it begins...

Posted by capecodcyclist at August 30, 2005 08:25 PM

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