Most Americans can read, can understand the written word. This ability is so commonplace that we forget how revolutionary it is. For most of humankind’s history, people knew only what they heard. Information was passed by word of mouth, was not easily verified, and was not retained in any permanent form. Most information was local.

The ability to share information by pieces of paper (and now electronically) meant that ideas could spread, could cross miles and even continents. Written words could be retained indefinitely and studied years later. Knowledge could be accumulated.

Along with such a blessing comes responsibility. We need wisdom as we read, watch TV, or study computer content. In our entertainment-driven society, the purpose of advertisements and political debates can appear as amusing pleasures, like a comedy sound bite or a  sitcom. The fact that much of our information now comes as a performance reinforces the idea of entertainment.

Geoffrey Crowther, writing in 1944 towards the end of World II, said: “The enormous development in the technique of propaganda and advertising, in the power to sway the minds of people in the mass, plays straight into the hands of the would-be dictator or any other manipulator who, for large ends or small, seeks to muddy the waters of democracy.” (Reprinted in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2012, page 38.)

The only defense against manipulation, whether for purposes of selling a product or selling a political candidate or selling an idea, is to read and listen responsibly, with reason overriding emotion.

Literacy without responsibility is dangerous.