Human Experiences in Literacy (response to Mona)

Oral speech is as Mona states are much “more memorable” and most of the time, it is through speech that we as humans create memories and pass them on – even in text-rich societies. Ong’s belittling of oral-based communities is on a grand scale a belittling of the human experience and life. Though we read and see many slogans/ads in our everyday lives, we convey our experiences or reactions to those ads in speech. The majority of the population does not decide to write a paper on the effects of advertising in their personal lives, we use speech. Furthermore, though our society is less oral in comparison to other societies we are none-the-less oral communicating animals. Mona’s last sentence stating “In the end, the essence of writing is still rooted in surrounding experiences” can allow one to see that the lines between oral speech and written are sometimes blurred and that is something Ong seems ill informed about: it is not one or the other but a mixture.