USA is Textual All the Way!

Rochelle Juette
DTC 375
Dr. Farman
February 19, 2009
Word Count: 754

USA is Textual All the Way!

When we look back into history we have thousands of documents that were carved, inscribed, tattooed or written in some form, which contained useful information. This information is our history, the history of who we are today. We learned in class that history began with writing 5,000 years ago. Writing began with cave drawings on the wall. We still heavily rely on text. We use text in our culture to find our way around, to entertain, to document information, as well as a means of communication.

We use text in our culture to find our way around. Sure, we could probably find our way by communicating verbally; however, people use signs and maps to give directions as well as writing down the directions so you don’t forget. Try to give directions to Seattle without writing them down or using signs or maps. You would simply say, “Keep driving until you hit rain. Then, you’ll probably be in Seattle”. We use text on signs that are posted around our cities. We use them to warn people of upcoming or possible dangers, to welcome people, and for directions. Without these textual signs, all chaos might break loose and people could get hurt without the warning signs we are use to.

We also use test for entertainment, such as in books. McLuhan argued that with writing there is a loss of gesture, facial expression and a loss of the body. I disagree completely. I believe it depends upon the author and the reader. When writing a story or any form of writing, I use my body and sometimes even facial expression. When you scratch your head because you have writers block, I would think that is considered gestures and use of the body. If you write about that and describe what you did, the reader can then visualize an author scratching his or her head because of their writer’s block. As for the reader, they too can be involved with gesture, facial expression, and use of the body. When reading a good book, I laugh, I smile; sometimes I might even hug or throw the book (depending on the mood of the story).

We know about the things that happened in our past because most of them were documented in some way. The cave drawings tell us that 5,000 years ago human beings were roaming the earth. We know our rights because they were documented in the Declaration of Independence. Today, we know the speed limit of city roads, highways, and freeways because they are posted on signs everywhere along the roads. Text is everywhere and it always has been, thanks to the alphabet. “As written forms, the letters of the alphabet have been used for centuries in the production of written and printed documents…Fewer than a dozen instances of the invention of writing are recorded in human history” (Drucker, 47).

Text is widely known as a form of communication. We use text in letters, e-mails, text messaging (hence the name), etc. Without text, we wouldn’t have an efficient method of communication. We would have to rely solely on oral communication, which is sometimes not always accessible in situations. For example, if you need to ask a friend a question in class but your teacher was talking, you would have to yell over the teacher’s voice, which isn’t appropriate. With a text message, you are able to send your question, via text, in seconds. The same goes for e-mails at work. Many people rely on their e-mails to share information and to communicate on the job. If you only had oral communication, you would be spending most of your day trying to track people down just to tell them to go on their lunch break when a simple e-mail would have sufficed.

When questioning whether our culture is primarily oral or textual, textual came to mind. Even though we learn to speak first, we depend on writing throughout our lives. Without text, we wouldn’t be able to read directions to find our way around, our entertainment would be lessened, our communication with others would be slim and we wouldn’t be able to document anything, leaving us with only words and no documented proof. “Without writing, words as such have no visual presence, even when the objects they represent are visual. They are sounds…there is nowhere to ‘look’ for them. They have no focus and no trace” (Ong, 66). With this being said, a world without text would be untraceable and uninformative.


















Works Cited

Druckey, Johanna. “The Alphabet.” Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society.
Ed. David Crowley and Paul Heyer. Allyn & Bacon, 2006. 47.

Ong, Walter. “Orality, Literacy and Modern Media.” Communication in History: Technology,
Culture, Society. Ed. David Crowley and Paul Heyer. Allyn & Bacon, 2006. 66.