June 30, 2001
The De-Voicing of Society: Why We Don't Talk to Each Other Anymore by John Locke

BCDC's rating: 2.

The menu for this meeting: shrimp creole, tofu-spinach-walnut loaf, peanut butter magic cookies, and more!

The BCDC Reading Guide for The De-Voicing of Society is below.

• What factors do you think affect how much 'voice' a person uses/experiences and why? For instance, class, ...
• There are several places where Locke makes claims about people's motives. For example, on page 35, he calls the egalitarian benefits of email a "clever post hoc rationalization." (Rationalization of what, by the way?) On page 161 he claims that the people who are "giddy" about cyberspace are "especially those stand to profit from" the sale of hardware and software. Many of these claims are not particularly well-supported. How do they (and their support or lack thereof) add to or detract from the argument he's trying to make?
• What is the red dot on the cover?
• How do you use email? Elaborate.
• On page 166 Locke makes the strong claim that if no "biologically powerful characteristics matter on email" then neither do "any other personal characteristic[s]." Agree or disagree? On page 200 he goes on to say that the "humanity" of virtual communities "falls far short of any kind of human experience to which our grandparents were accustomed." Is this true? If so, so what? Discuss.
• Is Locke anything more than a technophobic Luddite bewailing the loss of the "good old days"?
• Locke uses the term 'neighbor' to refer to people who live next to each other. What is your definition of 'neighbor'?
• Would this have been a more convincing argument if Locke had visited us for an evening and talked with us?
• Page 93 quote: "except for athletes and entertainers, only those blacks who can perform stunning feats of oral gymnastics become cultural heroes and leaders in the community." Perhaps we need more contxt here, but this statement by itself really bothers me. Couldn't the same be said about other groups? What do others think? What about the roles of nurture and education?
• Who was the book written for? (And what was the point?)