The Informed Stupid

Perhaps its because I personally favor satirical forms of literature, but I found Hedge’s article amusing.  That’s not to diminish the message he is trying to convey.  In short, Hedge believes that the American public is divided into two groups, the small, literate, and intellectual and then the illiterate dipshits.  Pardon the language, but it really is the general description he provides.  Our society, according to Hedge, is slowly rotting away as we continue to find new ways to reduce the need to read, think critically and engage actively. 

He makes a brilliant point when he shows that in recent years, presidential hopefuls have given speeches that are at the reading level of a 7^th grader.  This is because it’s entertaining to the masses, and easy to understand.  But there is no real substance to it.  Honesty and integrity are lost.  For Hedge, literacy is not just the ability to read something.  Literacy is the ability to read something that has purpose and power behind its words.  It shouldn’t be substituted by entertainment.  Now, I will admit that I find his perspective of the future to be too bleak.  As his article was written in 2008 and it is now 2013, I can say that while there are still many issues unanswered, things are slowly progressing.  We have a long way to go, but it’s not the end all.

            At the start of Carr’s article he states that he has found himself, over the years, losing the ability to maintain focus on a piece of literature.  Something that came so easy to him years ago.  This immediately resonated with me, for I know that I am guilty of, after the first three pages, getting distracted and having my mind shuffle between other thoughts.  Carr cites that a cause of this loss of attention lies within the Internet and its ability to quickly and easily distribute information.  Our society is a product of the web; we are constantly on the move and no longer have the time nor patience to give our attention to something longer than 10 minutes.   It’s an unfortunate reality that even I cannot ignore.   This easily ties into Hedge’s argument that the majority of the American people look only for entertainment, not substance.  Both Hedge and Carr relate that the general public wants a simplified explanation, not an in depth one.  Carr does admit that because of the introduction of texting and the Internet, we are reading more then ever before.  But it is this very idea that Hedge is concerned with.  In short, we may be reading more today then ever before, but the old saying still holds true: quality over quantity.