But he may have a point; America definitely needs to pick it up in the literacy department.
According to his research, almost a third of our population is either illiterate or barely literate; thats just embarrassing. Coming from a background where everyone I know is not only literate, but a good 95% have a high school diploma and most of those a college degree as well, its hard to imagine that such a significant portion of the population cant even read the likes of "See Spot Run".
He atributes our declining literacy in part to the transition from a print-based society, where Voltaire was the most famous person, to more of an image-based society where "Micky Mouse" takes the cake in the popularity contest. (2) Why? Because "it feels good not to think." (2) This seems strangely familiar to the reading by Nicholas Carr, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" in which he seems to say just about the same thing about the transitioning of society for the worst.
And it appears politicians and advertising agencies are figuring this out and beginning to exploit it. Ads are becoming shorter, brighter, and more to the point in order to draw the attention of the consumers and sell their product before loosing the attention of the viewer. The biggest problem with that is the hard truth that instead of trying to get back to the more intellectual society we once knew, America is just adapting and dumbing down life to accomodate the idiots.
Do you agree with his argument that America is becoming illiterate? He does map some good points but do you think his point is justified? Although our socioeconomic status does make us more likely to know people who are literate do you believe him when he claims that one third of the population is illiterate or nearly so?
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