Klarinet Archive - Posting 000329.txt from 1999/03

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Store closings
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 12:21:51 -0500

Mark,

Your post put me in a tailspin. With your indulgence, and that of the
readers (and reeders), I wish to reply. Hope this isn't too far away from
clarinet. Aren't we all a loose knit group, so to speak, sitting around a
table and enjoying each other's company and ideas?

charette@-----.org wrote:

> >The world is changing fast and Internet is the way to go.
>
> And what of the majority who _don't_ have Internet at their home? Of
> the large number of people who share a telephone? Those are the ones
> in most need of comparison shopping since they have limited funds, yet
> those are the very ones who can't make use of the Internet.
>
> The social implications of electronic information is staggering. I can
> imagine the division between "have" and "have nots" growing all too
> easily. The demise of the local store (whatever it sells) is contributing
> to the division - the superstores require transportation to even get
> to them, and public transportation is lacking in many places.

The introduction, gradual acceptance and use of home computers is, without
arguament, creating a greater casm and distance betweeen the "haves" and the
"have nots." This issue is bothering lots of people. The social and economic
implications are, as you said, "staggering." Getting a job now not only
requires literacy, and maybe writing and comunicative skills, but it now
also requires computer literacy, the ability to work these little devils.
(Oh, let us not forget that good, old fashioned skill of being able to type,
one of the holdovers from the last generation.)

The distance between the haves and the have-nots is not a new issue. During
the Dark Ages, only the monks, clerics and scribes were literate. Only the
lords owned land and had personal wealth and comfort.

More people gradually learned to read when moveable type for printing
presses was invented, and the water wheel made cheap paper from linen a way
to make books relatively common.

Still, few could read.

Now, centuries later with public schools and free educaation, we still have
people who can't read.

I'm sure I sound old fashioned, but I think we need to reinvent some of the
things from days gone by. For ecological reasons we need to have that
neighborhood grocery store back on the corner, where we can get a loaf of
bread, a gallon of milk or whatever. Getting in the car, driving two miles
to the "Supermarket" seems to have gotten us all in a lot of trouble. The
air we breath, the water we drink and the food we eat are all not quite as
wholesome as they once were. Yes the coal for heating homes has been
replaced with natural gas, but still, we're killing ourselves with nastier
byproducts and residual wastes because of the life styles we enjoy.

>
>
> It's a very complicated issue - I'm glad I don't have to directly
> grapple with all the implications, but I do deal with some of them
> directly in the work I do.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark Charette@-----.org

Cheers from Richard Bush too. Hope I didn't spoil your day:-)

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