Reader Demotrash, who by all appearances must be visiting us anonymously from Harvard, says this:
These are important observations that explain why I don’t like the growing popularity of the term oral culture to describe what we are experiencing.
Oral culture exists in a deeply religious society. There is a core of shared belief that brings people into the same symbolic universe. Without this shared worldview nourished by a lifelong participation in the common rituals and traditions, there is no culture. If you don’t have a shared symbolic language that everybody understands irrespective of their degree of literacy, there’s no culture.
There is another aspect to this issue. Culture is the capacity to understand that something can mean something else. It’s a non-literal understanding of the world of which only humans are capable. Portable screens are creating a cognitive gap of extraordinary dimensions. All of the natural cognitive distinctions remain in place. On top of it, we are adding a large number of people with a flat, one-dimensional inner world who can’t comprehend the reality around them and will exist in a state of a permanent freakout over it. They are imitating culture’s “something can mean something else” but in a flailing, dumb way. Like parrots who imitate the sound of a human voice, they chant “people in maroon shirts must mean something”.
Clarissa's Blog 
Whatever we are heading into it is NOT oral culture.
Oral culture involves a tremendous amount of *memory*. We tell the stories of our parents, grandparents, ancestors, our town, our country. We can name our grandparents for four or five generations. We know dozens, maybe hundreds, of songs. We have long lists of universally-known aphorisms. We have jump-rope rhymes and circle games. We all know the magic phrase that says you give up in hide-and-seek, and everybody can come out now. “Circle circle dot dot now you’ve had a cootie shot”. We know which saint to ask for help with every possible difficulty, which berries can be eaten, which mushrooms will kill you, and which rocks will strike a spark. That is an oral culture.
The thing we are getting instead, is permission to not memorize *anything* because why, when you can pull the magic tablet from your pocket and ask it?
Who cares where the answers come from, or that they can be manipulated?
This is not a power that will be used for good.
Do yourself a favor and memorize something– anything– this week.
-ethyl
LikeLike
One of the subjects in Klara’s school is called “Memory.” They memorize Biblical verses daily. It’s a separate subject, on par with math and reading. I’m very glad. This prepares them to read literature because Biblical verses are woven into the entirety of Western literature.
Also memorizing poetry is extremely important. There’s no culture without memory, that’s for certain.
LikeLike
“There’s no culture without memory.”
This will be the subject of my next lesson at school.
Thank you, Clarissa, Methylethyl, Demotrash and all the readers of this blog, for providing me with so much intelligent, intellectual stimulation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good reminder on poetry, thank you.
I listened to Gyles Brandreth’s Dancing by the light of the Moon earlier in the year and was also inspired by the https://www.poetrytogether.com/ website.
Can anyone suggest a similar work focusing on Canadian, Australian, New Zealand or USian poetry (in English please)?
LikeLike