In Praise of Illiteracy - 1896 Words

In Praise of Illiteracy By Hans Magnus Enzensberger This essay was adapted from a talk given by the author and translated from German, which I took from Harper’s Magazine. Can we dispense with the written word? That is the question. Anyone who poses it will have to speak about illiteracy. There’s just one problem: the illiterate is never around when he is the subject of conversation. He simply doesn’t show up; he takes no notice of our assertions; he remains silent. I would therefore like to take up his defense. Every third inhabitant of our planet manages to get by without the art of reading and without the art of writing. This includes roughly 900 million people, and their numbers will certainly increase. The figure is impressive but†¦show more content†¦Quite a different kind of progress was in question. IT consisted in taming the illiterates, this lowest class of men, in stamping out their will and their fantasy, and in exploiting not only their muscle power and skill in handiwork, but their brains as well. For the unlettered human to be done away with, he had first to be defined, tracked down, and unmasked. The concept of illiteracy is not very old. Its invention can be dated with some precision. The word appeared for the first time in a French publication in 1876 and quickly spread all over Europe. At about the same time, Edison invented the lightbulb and the phonograph, Bell he telephone, and Otto the gasoline motor. The connection is clear. Furthermore, the triumph of popular education in Europe coincides with the maximum development of colonialism. And this is no accident. In the dictionaries of the period we can find the assertion that the number of illiterates as compared with the total population of a country is a measure of the people’s cultural condition. And they do not fail to instruct us that men stand on a level higher, on the average, than women.: This is not a matter of statistics, but a process of discrimination and stigmatization. Behind the figure of the illiterate we can discern Hitler’s concept of der Untermensch, the subhuman who must be eliminated. A small, radical minority hasShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Shakespeare Authorship Debate1632 Words   |  7 Pagesof[abosluteshakespeare.com] and are details analyzing each key argument about Shakespeare, in an attempt to portray a viable way to express information pertaining to the arguments. The following is taken from an argument regarding Shakespeare’s illiteracy: The Illiteracy argument suggests that the Bards own literacy may not have been high. This is backed up the very circumstantial evidence that Williams father could neither read, nor write. His own daughter Judith, could only manage writing an X on herRead More The Teaching of Saint Gregory Essay1162 Words   |  5 Pagescreatures: visible (the creatures in the world) and invisible (angels, incl ude the evil â€Å"Follower behind†) (262, 278). Second, man was created in God’s image–which gave man rational mind and independent will so that man will be aware of God. (273), praise God (261) and live in a good life with God. (Enoch’s life 294). Third, in Christology, Gregory emphasizes the incarnation of the Son is not a sudden idea, not a phantom (402) but an eternal redemption plan of God. All the prophecies was foreshadowingRead MoreThe War Of The Vietnam War1421 Words   |  6 Pagesquestioning why so many had been killed (Jane Fonda). These actions combined with her broadcasts used a clear rhetorical strategy to send a message to the American people that she opposed the war, and this made some Americans loathe her and others praise her. In Fonda’s broadcast, she tries to evoke a strong sense of ethics to convince her audience that she is credible and trustworthy, known as ethos. She was a well recognized activist for civil rights and women s rights which helped her establishRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Personal Experience909 Words   |  4 Pageslearn from their mistake because my parents gave me the opportunity to fail and later on in life I achieved success from my fail and my personal experience as well as sherry connects with how failure improved education. For example in her essay, â€Å" In Praise of the F word†, she states how countless students do not have the skills they need to succeed and how diplomas for students don’t value anything. Furthermore, she in the essay it also give a personal experiences about her son and how she as a parentRead More A Rhetorical Examination of The Homeless and Their Children Essay1281 Words   |  6 PagesKozol did not find it necessary to write th is piece in a persuasive tone, or a compassionate tone, or even an angry tone to get his message across. He did not need to include a multitude of statistics to convince his readers that homelessness, illiteracy, and governmental apathy were issues. As stated in the introductory paragraph that precedes Kozol’s excerpt, â€Å"Instead of arguing indignantly for literacy programs to save the lives of the poor and illiterate, Kozol simply reports the case of aRead More Commedia dellarte Essay952 Words   |  4 Pagesstatement with specific examples of Commedia dellarte scenarios, stock characters, performance features and circumstances. Commedia dellarte is definitely an artform centred on people and their world. Although its origins are hazy due to the illiteracy of its first performers and audience, it is believed to have stemmed from the carnivals in Italy during the sixteenth century. Here it rose from the people from folk theatre, which used masks and music, and from the charlatans using pretence asRead MoreSojourner Truth Essay1144 Words   |  5 Pagesthe human being has ignored the very entity of there existence, and the power of reasoning, the ability to comprehend right from wrong without distortion. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth illustrates the hardships that were endured: enslavement, illiteracy, underclassing, brutal assaults, and murders. The African -American women were classed as third rate in the human scale that was implemented by the slaveowners; categorized under the whites, then under the African-American males. The African-AmericanRead MoreNational Literacy Crusade Of 1980 Essay2128 Words à ‚  |  9 PagesThe Sandinistas National Literacy Crusade of 1980 (CNA) significantly reduced the rate of illiteracy in Nicaragua from an estimated forty-three percent to twelve percent. Improvements to the literacy rate were short-lived. The instability of Nicaragua under the Sandinistas (1979-1990) effectively froze state-sponsored education programs, minimizing the potential of educational efforts after the 1980 campaign. The weakened Sandinista government, as well as inadequate preparation of post-CNA teachersRead MoreCentral Station Film Analysis1542 Words   |  6 Pagessocial problems highlighted in the movie including poverty, hunger, alcoholism, child abandonment, loneliness, illiteracy, crime and insecurity, unemployment and underemployment, internal migration, trafficking. With regard to Central Station, Pavlova and Dias quoted â€Å"From the very first scene, Central Station †¦ indicates that social problems will be acutely addressed† (42). Illiteracy is portrayed by the people who cannot read and write and therefore seek Dora’s services. Dora is a retired teacherRead MoreIndividualism and Collectivism in Fountainhead by Ayn Rand943 Words   |  4 Pageslike Ellsworth Toohey to utter the praises of her books, and the followers like Keating — too bashful to form their own judgments — will accept Tooheys evaluations. Lois Cook is not only a second-hander whose life is controlled by the people against whose values she rebels. She represents as a shining model of nihilism— a desire to destroy the best that human society has to offer. She doesnt fight against vulgar tabloids, corrupt politicians, widespread illiteracy, or any of societys ills. Instead