October 21, 2010
In Ong's book, Orality and Literacy, he argues on page 42 that verbal cultures are unable to disconnect words from emotions. For example, a list of people, politicians for example, removes them completely from any type of human action context (as Ong puts it.) It is simply a list, devoid of what comes with oral communications. If I was to read the list I would have some type of reaction. It may be a facial expression, body language, or the tone of my voice that would show something more then just names on paper would.
I like this argument for a series of reasons. The most prominent of these is how strong of an argument that it is, as well as being associated to everyone. I feel that a lot of issues we have today are started by the technology of writing. Text messages and emails have a way of wrongly expressing what the person is trying to say. Tone is lost as is the emotion of the person. For example, saying "whatever" to someone in a text message may come across as with an attitude, when in person it could be more in the tone of "oh, it's whatever. Anything is fine with me." I feel like Ong has really created a valid argument in this section.
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