Saturday, April 15, 2023

The Nature of Communication


Ancient scholars deduced that language is symbolic, metaphorical to reason and understanding for the individuals’ thought process. Symbolism language is powerful.

Hieroglyphics were the early form of writing, communication used in Ancient Egypt and the Anatolian Hittites dating back to the Bronze Age 12 century BCE, a combination of logographic symbols. Much like the Emoji of today.


But the timeline of most of History shows that most people were illiterate, could not read or write even up through the Middle Ages. They depended on Oral Tradition, a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and culture was received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.  The transmission was through speech or song including folktales, ballads, chants, or prose and poetry.


Part of Human Existence, is Oral Tradition before written language. One can hypothesize religion was founded upon explaining the unexplainable, giving reasons to fractured happenings before scientific knowledge gave birth. Homer’s Odyssey reveals Human Nature.  ‘Achilles' heel myth for example.


Greek Mythology, when Achilles was an infant, it was foretold he would perish at a young age. Preventing his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx which folklore supposed to offer powers of invulnerability. She dipped his body into the river water but, because she held him by his heel, it was not touched by the water of the river.


One can see, for example, the Pictures displayed as Art throughout the walls and ceilings of Hagia Sophia, built 360 CE, telling the story of Christianity, a method of Oral Tradition.


In 1454 Gutenberg took the task of the laboring Scribes and put the mass media in motion. The printing press innovation put the written word to the masses, inspired the ‘read’.


Over centuries, Scribes upon Scribes, upon more Scribes rewriting lead to distortions in meaning. Imagine ancient script with no spaces/punctuation.


Charlemagne, 8th century, gave us Carolingian ‘miniscule’, Upper Lower cases, spaces between words, punctuation, and even Cursive Writing. 


Consider the importance of these  innovations: allofthesechangesmadeitmucheasiertoreadtheyeliminatedthesourcesofmanyscribalerrors


Add to the Insanity with the Bible having many contradictions because of the Scribes’ distortions over centuries. Maybe one Scribe had a ‘Bad Day’ with his wife and relegated her to “Sit Down & Be Quiet” 1 Timothy 2:12: “I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.”


“I learned a very important lesson that night. People believe whatever they read. Something magical happens once it’s put down on paper. They figure no one would have gone through the trouble if it wasn’t the truth.  

Responsibility was my new watchman.” Eugene Morris Jerome

- Niel Simon’s Biloxi Blues


“Nature of Reality in the conscious mind is thru Stories.”- Deepak Chopra

Corporate Media controls the Stories. Therein Lies the Problem.


One could hypothesize, that ‘Social Media’ is the New “Ancient Oral Tradition”

since Journalism is DOA and Corporate Media is Infotainment.


One must realize Corporate Media Mainstream Media is owned by 5 corporations and is not only the filter, but the interpreter of HAPPENINGS.  An Unchallenged Lie perpetuates same. 


The Word “News” connotes Journalism, and one would expect a standard like a placard outside an office “Lawyer” or “CPA”.  Corp Media MSM replaced Journalism with ‘INFOTAINMENT’.


A savior of our communicated thoughts revolves around Lucius Seneca 4 BCE - 65 CE, Roman Philosopher, Stoicism: “You can’t control the situation, but you can control your reaction to it.”