DTC 375 Blog Post 2

Second half of “Orality and Literacy” by W. Ong.

I have observed that the first half of “Orality and Literacy” was mostly directed towards aiming the reader at a better understanding of what a primary orality society may contain and how it would function. The second half of the book, is more dedicated to the readers understanding of the differences between orality, second orality, and literacy while also giving the reader a strong understanding of how the invention and incorporation of writing into the world has changed society significantly for the better. “More than any other single invention, writing has transformed the human consciousness.” (p.77) seeing as that is a pretty strong statement to make he backs it up with some theories about how it is impossible to directly refute a text. “This is one reason why ‘the book says’ is tantamount to ‘it is true’. It is also one reason why books have been burnt.” (p.78). What is being said is that reading a book is not at all like having a conversation.  When you read something that you do not agree with you cannot interject with your own differing opinions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Some subjects and theories need to be printed and read in their entirety, without interruption in order to be fully comprehended and valued. Although I do understand that this is coming from a literate person who is in a modern world because Ong does goes on to state, “People had to be persuaded that writing improved the old oral methods sufficiently to warrant all the expense and troublesome techniques it involved.” (p.95). This sense of distrust comes from the lack of extratextual context such as the ability to properly convey tone of voice, environment, and volume level. “Spoken words are always modifications of a total situation which is more than verbal. They never occur alone, in a context simply of words.”(p.100). This lack of extra content that is seen in literacy is something that I can definite note in the modern world technologies such as with text messaging. When someone sends me a text to my phone sometimes, based on the situation, if there is a lack of punctuation like an explanation point or letters in all caps, I can’t gather the emotion of the text and whether or not the send was mad, interested or just indifferent.

Even with this minor drawback of the written word, this form of communication has made possible great change in the exploration of the globe, family life, politics, modern science, and altered social and intellectual life for the better. As Ong states in his chapter on print, space, and closure. We also see the birth of what Ong calls “second orality” with the incorporation of television, radio, and telephone. Combining modern technology with oral communication as well as literacy has all combined for a more intelligent and aware society.