Chapter 4 - The Typographic Mind
1. What were the main focuses of Lincoln and Douglas's speeches?
2. How do we know that all written content is true information?
3. Is everyone capable of the analytical management of knowledge?
4. Does written information have more of a positive affect on society or negative?
5. Is speech or written context more believable to the average person?
REACTION:
Chapter 4 starts out as a summary of the way Lincoln and Douglas influenced the modern day people by having lengthy, public, political arguments. They would go on for hours at a time responding to each other and describing each of their own views. A total session would be close to 7 hours which is quite unheard of today. They didn't speak highly of themselves or others, but used their knowledge in their dialogue to influence the audience to just simply listen to understand both of their speeches, instead of just following their passion. Douglas basically said that it was important for them to understand and be silent reflective leaders to what he was saying. Back then before the media had photos, videos and pictures and even TV, content really was king. In this case, this is oral content, so it is even harder for people to understand and a lot of information to even remember. They might only remember certain key points, but the amount of personalities that are present, cause them to all find different topics memorable to themselves. Postman explains that ideas that are presented in print are a lot more likely for people to talk about because no one has to take the time to remember it, they can reread it as many times as they want. We tend to feed off written and printed content, but how do we know that it is true information?
When writers write, they are just writing their ideas that are going on in their brain. When we read their ideas, most of us have several different ways of interpreting it. We may not comprehend what they were trying to say, and because it is in print and non-verbal, it is less emotional. Postman says that readers start to make mistakes when they don't notice what someone is trying to say, or even worse, don't care.
The documentations of religion started to become of high controversy among the larger political leaders like Thomas Paine. People were starting to severely hate on it and people began preaching and moving people like never before. This is an example of people needing that hope. A preacher Henry Coswell stated " religious mania is said to be the prevailing form of insanity in the United States." Apparently the organization of churches, which caused the formation of a group of people to learn, influenced the form of higher education in America.
When forming our judicial system, they used to create positions regarding that the law must not be a merely learned profession, but a liberal one. That is definitely something that has faded away today. I feel like we are just stuck on the old ways, and are moving at a sloth's pace to change. Our constitution was not just acquired out of a textbook, it was formulated by expansive minds. Advertising was full of descriptive context and wasn't successful, because apparently the public could not understand. So basically they had to dumb down the adds so the common people could understand. When what they should have done is just let people figure it out for themselves or by word of mouth. This movement induced photographs and slogans. It wasn't making people understanding anymore, it was about the psychology techniques they used to attract a broader audience for making more money. People used to remember people by things that they said, now we only remember their faces.
We get tested on reading comprehension today, but in the 18th and 19th century that would have been an absurd thought, because all they did when they read was comprehend. 100% of their focus was on the book, now it is taken for granted. When the TV was invented, a revolution of events was about to change the Typographic mind forever.
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