All That's Gold Doesn't Glitter

The feelings of outrage, disgust, and contempt rolled through my body as I read and processed this article. While it was very well written, I do NOT agree with the message, at all. The same disgust and revulsion that I feel when faced with modern-day racism hit stronger and stronger the deeper I dove into the assigned reading. While this is not racism in the traditional sense, it is discrimination and segregation of a different sort. I felt fiercely protective of those that Hedge directly attacks, and that, my friends, is exactly what this was. . . . an attack. He shears America into two parts, and he labels one very clearly as "inferior." He notes that they "remain powerless" and remarks that they "watch helplessly and without comprehension." Words such as that applied to my fellow country men just absolutely and totally rub me the wrong way. The gall! Hedge appears to sit on a pedestal, looking down his nose at those he considers beneath him. There's not one quote I can pull out to say, "See! That's what he SAID!" It's an overwhelming tone of superiority and haughtiness through the article from which I draw my feelings. While I don't find much of his article confusing, at all, I find most, if not all of it, troubling. While I do find it troubling that I have fellow country men struggling to read, I find it more troubling that Hedge looks down on them the way he does. There once was a time when NO ONE could read, and society functioned just fine. Reading is not a requirement for life, liberty, or happiness, nor does it make one a lesser mammal if one cannot read. *supremely frustrated* The more I consider this article, the angrier I get. The first paragraph of the article sets the tone for the entire set-up.

"We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print- based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities."

There is so much raw superiority in that paragraph alone to choke an elephant. I know that at this point, I sound like a broken record, and as such, I will move on. I just cannot get pass the absolutely disgusting, overwhelming, simpering sense of power Hedge gives off. . . . . While his article focuses on "literacy", the man never bothers to define it. Overall, he seems to fall on the broader sense of "understanding", as opposed to the traditional, narrower definition of "able to read." He cites a ton of statistics stating who can and cannot read, and then goes on to discuss deeper thinking that is apparently supposed to be connected to the idea of literacy. He can't just end it with, "These people can't read." No, he has to go on to actually insult their intelligence, as if reading was a measurement of intelligence. . . .

Hedge and Carr share few, if any, characteristics. The two of them are two opposite ends of the spectrum. While Hedge has a right to his opinion, he is very offensive in the way he presents. Carr offers his opinion, allows that there might be error, and is almost submissive in his expression. Hedge directly attacks the population, whereas Carr simply offers his ideas up for examination. Hedge is the elitist, and Carr is a member of every day people with a thought to share. Even the topics vary, even though, at first glace, they appear similar. "America the Illiterate" and "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" seem to follow the same subject line, but we've always been told, "Don't judge a book by its cover." These two diverge in tone, subject, and intent within the first sentence. While I didn't particularly like either of them, Hedge gave a me a new appreciation for the humbler side of humanity, and Carr gave me an appreciation for those with support. As always, there's something to be learned from everything. . . . and perhaps the oldest lesson of all was driven home. . . . . all that's gold doesn't glitter. . . . In specific terms, reading isn't the end all of the elite. . . . .