Southstar
Posts: 150 Joined: Nov. 2011
|
Quote (Kristine @ Nov. 28 2011,10:52) | I'm indexing a professor's textbook on communication, reading The Origin and Development of Cultures, and also contemplating my own book (nowhere near the proposal stage yet) on the chicken-egg question of the creation of records and archives and a mind that thinks in terms of records and archives. (Ugh, does that make sense?)
A weird thought ran through my head as I read this professor's textbook discussing oral versus written communication: are anti-evolutionary movements primarily oral rather than written?
Certainly, books on "creation science" and ID have been written, but their secondary life strikes me as orally passed down in a manner not unlike Bible studies, in which a presumed authoritative text is interpreted, and understood, and ingested orally. I would consider Bible studies to be largely an oral tradition, just as in the past one literate member of a community reading the Bible to members who could not read is largely an oral trad. Homeschooling could also fall into the oral trad category, despite the use of study aids. (The culture of "Jesus Camp" struck me as placing the oral/experiential above the written text and above cultivated literacy.)
Then, of course we have UD, which is written but which seems to engage in largely oral tradition behavior (uncritically repeating the quote mines of ID "authorities," rehashing rumors and urban legends, personal testimonials (GilDodgen in particular) etc.). I'm beginning to wonder if this professor might classify some online behavior as "oral" rather than written. But then, Pharyngula and other blogs could fit this "oral" category, as well - or do they?
Is it fair for me to label anti-evolution movements as largely oral, in contrast to the obvious written legacy of scientific literature? If fair, what could be the consequences of such a dichotomy? |
In most cultures going back a few centuries you would have an extremely high portion of the population as illiterate. So yes most scripture and creation ideas would only be possible to pass orali. A few detained the knowlege to read and interpret, and preached the word.
It might be useful to take a look at how oral traditions have influenced various African cultures, which do not have handwriting. In South Africa certain myths are still passed down through the generations without any writen text at all.
Marty
-------------- "Cows who know a moose when they see one will do infinitely better than a cow that pairs with a moose because they cannot see the difference either." Gary Gaulin
|