As many Americans sit down to sumptuous Thanksgiving dinners today, they may wish to offer an extra prayer to the god of literacy.
It is estimated that twenty-one percent of adult Americans - denizens of
supposedly the most advanced and powerful nation on earth - are 'functionally illiterate'.
This means they "cannot use reading, writing and calculation skills for (their) own and the community's development. Functional illiteracy has considerable negative effects not only on personal development, but also in economic and social terms".
Bloggng last month for independent publishing services' giant, BookBaby, Lee Purcell pointed out that writers are having to compete increasingly "in a world where video apps, music clips and flashy eye candy dominate the digital media universe".
Purcell was discussing how to eliminate 'book deserts' in the world's poor communities and so expand literacy rates.
It certainly won't be achieved via social media, a form of instant communication loaded with the sort of junk Purcell mentions and that therefore attracts vast shoals of the least intelligent form of hate-infested pond life, largely because such creatures do not need to be formally literate to use it.
I quote, by example, the killing of UK police constable Andrew Harper, whose life was ended by young thugs from the Travellers' community, at least one of whom claimed to be illiterate but nonetheless used Facebook.
Then this week, as further example, it was reported that after a long battle, Facebook had removed two anti-Israel, pro-terrorist pages run by the Maydan al Quds and Al Qastal groups. They had claimed to be news sites, but had simply been using the space to work against Israel.
On Sunday they published material about Hamas terrorist Fadi Abu-Shkadem, who murdered South African Jewish immigrant Eli Kay and wounded four other Israelis in the Old City of Jerusalem.
An in-depth investigation has now revealed Shkadem was not a 'holy' Islamist martyr but was most likely trying to avoid familial and communal humiliation after his wife, Sou’ad abandoned him following years of physical abuse.
The average 'pro-Palestinian' social media user would neither know nor comprehend the intricacies of local in-bred culture where 'honour' is all. They ingest the available cheap and tacky 'river to the sea' slogans simply because they are there - and it's easy!.
So in the magic, virtual, hi-tech world in which we now live, it appears that ignorance and hate - not the quest for knowledge - are perceived as power.
Thank you for reading this. I am most grateful.
NATALIE WOOD
25 NOVEMBER 2021