Towards Mormopagitica

I've had a running internal/external debate in my head for the past ten... no make that fifteen years on the worth of wickedness observed. On the one hand, I think of the often graphic horrors opened in visions by the Lord to His prophets; if God saw fit to put wickedness on display for Isaiah, John the Revelator, there must be some value derived from it, right? And ancient american prophets seemed to view the records of the Gadianton robbers to be important to their education, right? But on the other hand, I argue that God and his anointed were the gate-keepers in both instances; maybe only He and the prophets who share His secrets are physicians fit to prescribe such useful drugs. Then again, don't we believe in an egalitarian God who upbraids not when any man seeks knowledge in faith?

"To both these objections one answer will serve, out of the grounds already laid, that to all men such books are not temptations, nor vanities; but useful drugs."

And so I've gone round and round. I suppose I should sit down to read and write and pray about it. But I have little confidence, at present, in settling the question by an appeal to King James, Mormon, or Milton. Rather, when stirred by Areopagitica and Paradise Lost, I find myself thinking about the official narrative of LDS history. Happily, it seems we are moving towards the free market of thought advocated so well by Milton in Areopagitica. I suppose this change in policy--where we find the Joseph Smith papers published unedited, and where CES teachers are being instructed to address uncomfortable facts rather than merely avoiding them, and where Pres. Uchtdorff and others frankly acknowledge the reality that LDS leaders have sometimes acted and spoken out of harmony with eternal truth--has been a necessary fruit of the internet: a digital tree whose broad boughs put the knowledge of good and evil at the fingertips of millions.

So where does this all essay? Toward confidence, calmed by faith. The bittersweet fruits of good and evil knowledge have been tasted in other worlds, including Milton's. It's natural to wish for cultural-narrative control, but can we become saints, individually or collectively, without confessing our fathers' transgressions?

Problems and False Starts

I was so excited about the concepts concerning the implications of communicated knowledge in Areopagitica that I had all but decided on restricting my study of Milton to an exploration of that text. At first, I was mainly interested in how Milton's rhetoric might inform libertarians in our current age, as demonstrated by this false-start I never posted:




But I'm also fascinated by the concepts that intersect with Book IX of Paradise Lost, especially as they pertain to Mormon studies in a digital age (a preoccupation of mine evidenced by Ships of Hagoth).

If time were not an issue, I would explore the following subjects:

1. Milton's thoughts on the ethics and implications of personal and communicated knowledge, as expressed in Paradise Lost and Areopagitica
2. Doctrines, attitudes and histories of the LDS Church and it's members on the ethics and implications of personal and communicated knowledge
3. Challenges and implications of the above in a digital world

As it stands, that list looks like an elephant so large, it would take years to digest, even at the rational rate of one bite at a time.

[Blogger sighs with exaspiration.]

Social Media Renaissance: Part 2

A common worry throughout history has been how more convenient forms of communication can negatively alter our realities. (See this comic for details.) However, with convenient forms of communication come convenient forms of feedback. It puts power into the hands of the people to not only circulate ideas, but to make them well-polished. I believe Milton would have thrived in our modern community. As mentioned in my last post, Milton believed people deserved the opportunity to become scholars and sages. Because of Martin Luther, Milton, and other Reformers with similar beliefs, we have the information we do. And the number of people exposed to the Restored Gospel increases each year because of the stance of the Church on social media. It's hard to give testimonials for others, though they are out there, so I'll briefly touch on some things I've done and experienced through this format.

It can be difficult to figure out at first, but once used to, it can be exciting.

Things I've done

• Found communities in Google + that may be interested in the topic or the blog
• Posted different hooks for different audiences
• Read and responded to others' posts

Fun perks

• An educational community from Singapore has shown interest in my ideas about education
• I've learned a lot about PLCs from a lot of critics and supporters
• Educators and others from around the U.S. have put me in their circles to see more about these subjects
• I've had scholarly discussions and found places to go for future research
• I've received personal and specific feedback about ideas my roommates think are too boring

Social Media Renaissance

It has been said of our generation that we are in the "Social Media Renaissance." What does that mean for Milton lovers? It means we're one step closer to his own world. Life in the Renaissance was changing fast. Why? (I know you love all my rhetorical questions). Fine I'll tell you. Because their way of communicating was changing. 

Education specialists Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner say in their novel Teaching as a Subversive Activity,

"You seldom, if ever, have an old element plus a new element, such as a printing press or an electric plug. What you have is a totally new environment requiring a whole new repertoire of survival strategies. . . When you plug something into a wall, someone is getting plugged into you. Which means you need patterns of defense, perception, understanding, evaluation. You need a new kind of education."

I could talk for days about the implications of new media on education (ask my slowly decreasing pool of non-Facebook friends), but I won't. What I will talk about is how media always has and always will play a crucial role in our learning process through social feedback.

The Influence of Dictation: Writing By Voice

The more I continue to listen to Paradise Lost the more fascinated I become with the fact that Milton dictated the entire epic. Composing verses in his head, committing them to memory, and pulling them out later for dictation, what a mind! The idea makes me wonder how dictation would have affected Milton's work and how different methods of transcription influence the writing they produce. Does Milton's epic find its greatness from being created orally rather than constructed on paper?

First of all the work is transmitted through another human being. It becomes a performance, to a certain degree, subject to the reactions of the transcribers, and would seem to force the author to become more self-conscious of the work he is creating. I found an interesting article that contrasted this setting with the rise of other sorts of transcription, especially voice recognition software that has been rising in popularity among writers. One author, Richard Powers, described the idea as "a return to 'writing by voice' as done by authors through history."

Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion

Does rhetoric have to be words? After reading Dr. Burton's paper and exploring a bit this was the thought that occurred to me. We don't just persuade people with our words, right? My moment of "oh, I landed on something good!" shriveled up when I realized that the etymology of the word rhetoric is literally "art of an orator." So much for that idea.

As I was moving on to find another interesting bit to post about, my mind flickered back, "well, then, what is it? Where does the visual fit in?" As we delve further and further into our digital/visual age, the argument appears - do images, visual presentation, and object placement have a place within the hallowed halls of Rhetoric? 

That could be a whole essay in and of itself, but I want to discuss more of the practical effects of such a notion. 

We are up to our eyebrows in the Digital Age. We've been discussing the ramifications of a changing society in my class on mass communications and media literacy - a society more familiar and satisfied with the 140 characters of a Twitter alert, than with reading an entire news article. We are having to say the amount we've always been saying and (oftentimes more with the rate of innovation nowadays) with less. Attention has to be grabbed within the first three words or so else no one will read it. And they do say, a picture is worth a thousand words...