return to orality

 

Return to Orality

 

E. Ethelbert Miller's conversation with Whitney Fishburn

 

https://documental.substack.com/ p/ in-conversation-with-poet-e-ethelbert

 

is cool for its insights about poetry and policy, about contemporary  life in language.

 

For a very small number of my peers----stress very small ---the 21st century is drenched with bothersome,  barbaric and inevitable uses of language.  A fine description of our plight is Jean-Paul Sartre's NO EXIT. Our plight is worsened the White House's daily vomiting of lies, hoaxes, and perfected fascist rhetoric. The vomit  constantly erodes our ability to benefit from clear, critical thinking .   It denies that common sense thinking is a worthy goal. We carry the onus

 

The thin line between the actual  and reality is broken beyond repair, and that has been the case since before 2016.  Repair has no near-future.

 

Re-read or read  Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media (1964)

 

Re-read or read  Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970)

 

We had been warned. It is unlikely  that the people who need most to read or re-read will do so.  We now have intergenerational mixtures of laughter, tears, and maximum  consumption of misunderstanding.  That is the heritage we made, the burden we carry.

 

The conversation between Fishburn and Miller is laced with ironic ironies.  We do not deserve better.

 

 

Jerry W. Ward, Jr.            9/26/2020 3:07:44 AM

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