Re: bad debts among Generation Y



On Fri, 6 Apr 2007, BroTher zAchary wrote:

On Apr 6, 5:40 am, Straydog <a...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 5 Apr 2007, BroTher zAchary wrote:
As I've pointed out before, I think, Straydog's generational bias may
not necessarily be better than that of any other. The written word,
which enables him to enjoy his precious books, was once thought to be
a lower form of communication than the oral-aural form,

And where do you get this idea?

DURANT. Vol. 1. The reference is to Thoth and his revelation of
writing to mankind.

Well, you're making me dig up more on this all by myself.

My vol 1 index for Thoth lists pages 76, 147, 179, 199, 203, 277, and 331 for mentions.

And, perhaps what you are refering to was on page 76 (?):

"It was probably by committing such oral traditions and folk-lore to writing that literature began. Doubtless the invention of writing was met with a long and holy opposition, as something calculated to undermine morals and the race. An Egyptian legend relates that when the god Thoth revealed his discovery of the art of writing to King Thamos, the good King denounced it as an enemy of civilization. 'Children and young people,' protested the monarch, 'who had hitherto been forced to apply themselves diligently to learn and retain whatever was taught to them, would cease to apply themselves, and would neglect to exercise their memories.'"

The only other page mentioning Thoth and writing seems to be on page 179:

"According to their [Egyptian] own legends the sciences had been invented some 18,000 BC by Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, during his three-thousand-year-long reign on earth; and the most ancient books in each science were among the twenty thousand volumes composed by this learned diety." The rest of that page makes substantial reference to knowledge surely carried in the medium of writing. On page 178 is reference to a divergence between language and writing, but the context seems to be more in terms of an evolution rather than one being "a lower form of communication" than another (however, around ancient Babylon, Akkadian was reserved for legal documents [on clay tablets], while the spoken language was something else [I can't remember just now]).

On page 277, I found:

One of the "purpose[s] of Ashurbanipal's [one of the kings of Babylon] library was to preserve the literature of Babylon from oblivion." and "Among the least dull of the tablets are two in which Ashurbanipal confesses with quaint insistence, his scandalous delight in books and knowledge: 'I, Ashurbanipal, understood the wisdom of Nabu [god of wisdom], I acquired an understanding of all the arts of tablet-writing. I learnt to shott the bow, to ride horses and chariots, and the hold the reins....Marduk, the wise one of the gods, presented me with information and understanding as a gift....the hidden secrets of all the scribal art...." And, earlier on the page reference is made to what I would call a curse, written on all the tablets to ward off any theif from stealing the tablets, thus and the rest give me the impression that they considered writing as quite important and valuable and not as a lower form of communication.

However, do you mean that writing was a lower form of communication than oral-aural communication because the later is more convenient?

Otherwise, I'd like to ask you to tell me on what page, and where on that page, to look, besides your reference, for what you say.




.

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