Great article by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times today on how Obama's love of reading has shaped his values and his life: From Books, New President Found Voice
Lots of interesting comments posted on the Times' site as well. Here's mine:
"Clearly, Obama is already reading all the right books.
What I fervently hope is that he will convey his passion for reading to America's youth, and apply his gifts and resources to helping the next generation discover, re-discover or maintain a love of reading.
Obama is a stunning example of the direct relationship between reading skills and our ability to participate in the world with confidence as informed citizens, communicate effectively, succeed in our chosen career, enjoy rewarding relationships, achieve personal fulfillment and contribute to our society.
But America now ranks a distant last among eighteen nations with respect to literacy levels for high school graduates, and it is estimated that illiteracy costs businesses and taxpayers $20 billion each year.
Obama knows that our founders, living as they did in an age when the printed word was the primary means of communication, placed a high emphasis on protecting the “marketplace of ideas” so that public discourse could flourish. Today, that discourse is predominantly one-way... we “receive” information from our television sets, radios, computers, and iPods. Large media corporations pay vast sums of money to explore new ways in which we can be collectively massaged toward a certain purchase or perspective. And the more we sit and stare at the screen, the more we turn our back on the kind of thoughtful reasoning that interaction with the written word promotes…and, the more mute we become.
It’s abundantly clear that the digital age has radically altered the entertainment as well as the learning landscape for today’s young people. But according to the National Council on Teachers of English (NCTE), “in order to participate fully in society and the workplace in 2020 and harness the power of technology and all its implications, we will need powerful literacy skills – at levels currently achieved by only a small percentage of the population.” It would seem that our collective health, our capacity for reason, our very future as a connected, contributive society – and that of our fragile planet – depends upon it.
I pray that Obama shares the dream of reestablishing a society of readers- and by extension, a society of thoughtful, engaged citizens who play an active, positive role in their community and their world. I hope he makes it a priority to help kids access the innate joy and empowerment in exploring the ideas and insights of great writers, thinkers, artists, and philosophers, so that they can actually participate in their future world with active voices, informed opinions and the real hope of being heard.
Like him."
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2 comments:
Hi Emma--
Re. your comments on how the "marketplace of ideas" is diminishing as
"..today, that discourse is predominantly one-way... Large media corporations pay vast sums of money to explore new ways in which we can be collectively massaged toward a certain purchase or perspective. And the more we sit and stare at the screen, the more we turn our back on the kind of thoughtful reasoning that interaction with the written word promotes… and, the more mute we become."
There is no substitute for the fully participatory experience of interacting with the written word. Yet, even as we continue to champion the written word I do feel that perhaps it's time to move beyond the model of the mass media audience as passive consumers ingesting wholesale the manipulative, puerile pap that the powers that be feed them-- garbage in, garbage out.
I don't think our thinking faculties are necessarily muted or shut off when we choose to engage with the so-called "idiot box". Unlike the written word, we have many of the 'blanks'' filled in for us-- but we nonetheless have the power to engage with a message, react to it, shape our own voice in the process, just as you would any other medium. As we grow more familiar with a medium we can grow more manipulated-- or more empowered, as our awareness of its conventions increases. A homogeneous message or worldview beamed into our living rooms may provide a common reference point, but not necessarily encourage a uniform viewpoint. If anything, the common cultural reference points that the mass media readily provides eg. the TV series the entire nation is hooked on-- serves as a common platform for debate and discussion across the board.
What we see on TV or the big screen is highly mediated by economic/political forces, yet cultural critics tend to ignore how we so often escape their dominant aims and meanings by powerfully using, re-interpreting or re-imagining the images and sounds we receive to our own diverse ends in our daily lives. TV might be a cultural wasteland-- but just as there is boundless creative potential to be found in dumpster-diving and turning discarded Coke cans into works of art, there is no reason why we can't be similarly enriched by thoughtfully sifting through and re-tweaking the banality that invades our minds through the media-- or looking at what seems banal in a different light. It's not what we watch but how we watch it, and what we choose to take from it. Just my $0.02.. apologies for the slightly bizarre tangent...
P.S: I've been a fan of your blog for a while and am loving the more frequent updates!
Hi Emma,
Let us also remember and give accolades to our former first lady, Laura Bush. As a librarian, she was continually raising awareness of the importance of literacy, both here and abroad, and of libraries through her Foundation for America's Libraries.
Thanks again for your blog,
Susie
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