Dear Mr.Hedges...

Civic Literacy in the Information Age
Dear Mr. Hedges,
I am a college student, dreaming of pursuing a successful career in the business world with the goal to reform the corporate industry. I love concerts, sports, reading, and school, yet in your eyes my diverse interests won’t be enough to compete with the so-called literate professionals that sparsely speckle society. In your opinion, I “exist in a non-reality-based belief system.”(Hedges). You're generalization indicates that I am a part of a generation that has grown up with spell-check instead of spelling bee trophies, reality TV instead of family dinners, and skills instead of knowledge. Now, you have the audacity to claim that because of the ingenious advances in technology, my growing generation has lost touch with reality and has been lulled into a superficial sense of security. America is thriving with intelligent and inquisitive souls, and if you claim that our system is failing, that process began long before this generation of ‘illiterate’ individuals. Your bleak prediction of the whirlwind of society not only encourages myself to write with renewed vigor, but to prove that technology has been a blessing in aiding our world with advancements for the more diverse writing culture we have rapidly evolved into.
I’m aware that you are aware that there is something amiss in our society. The fact that we have shows such as “Toddlers and Tiaras” or a national debt larger than ever predicted are more than enough to question not just the literacy, but also the intelligence level of our society. In your interview with Allan Gregg, you pointed out that this disconnect from reality isn’t being aided by our positive mindset. I agree when you imply that we can’t be distracting ourselves with the mundane in order to avoid pressing problems. From a young age we learn that procrastination often amplifies our problems rather than dismissing them. The large quantity of mindless media can be overwhelming. However, it is possible to have a positive attitude and realistic expectations to tackle the difficulties of our government and public. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines literacy as “the ability to read and write” or” the knowledge that relates to a specific subject” citing examples of computer literacy and cultural literacy (Literacy). You are the perfect example of admirable literacy, as you appear knowledgable on subjects as wide as American politics to wrestling, to pornography (Youtube). The internet has given those who may not have opportunities like your own, to explore the interests that they choose. With access to the world wide web one can choose to research friends on Google or Facebook, and look up television shows to watch online. This type of search defines our cultural literacy. But I can also research multiple points of view or read journal articles from the databases at my University. I have access to thousands of articles, the most recently being about quaternary sediment research with pollen analysis. Granted, not every individual takes advantage and applies these resources, however I am inclined to believe the vast majority of Americans do.
Americans are just as eager to develop their reading habits as they have been in the past, despite the growing popularity of the Internet. As of December 2011, there were around 121,785 libraries in the United States owning thousands of books each (Number). While this doesn’t show how many people read academic books, it does prove that there is ample access to these works, even with the information available online. As of 2004, the Top 10 Most Re-Read Books List included fiction texts such as Lord of the Rings, A Christmas Carol, Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, Winnie the Pooh, and Shakespeare's collected works (Frequently). This list accurately depicts the society that we are a part of. There is leisure fiction and classic fiction depicting exemplary writing for their rabid readers. The Wall Street Journal has almost 2.3 million daily average readers (Moos). While this is just a fraction of the population, many news sites have developed an online presence that has taken over the once print version of information. This allows citizens to reach the most up-to-date information quicker and more conveniently. In contrast to being ‘disconnected’ and ‘blurred’ from the symbolic emotionalism that we once experienced, Americans have indeed “perfected management” in order to pinpoint the subjects that matter and impact each of us the most (Youtube). Every day we challenge the structure of the corporate state and even though we are optimistic, we are not avoiding our responsibility to govern ourselves.
You may be wondering, who am I to be making these accusations without sufficient proof to show that we are grounded in reality? I don’t need to move any farther than my dorm where young, energetic individuals are pulsing with potential. The University of Denver is not an ivy league school like the ones that you have taught at, but we all stem from the early 90s when the tech boom was just beginning. Our age group is the perfect example of how we have not only been able to adapt, but to reorganize our thinking in innovative ways that streamline and pinpoint our arguments clearly and concisely in ways that were not thought of as possible 30 years before our birth. For example, as of December 2011, News of Delhi conducted a survey of the number of websites in the world. They received 466,848,493 individual responses, clearly emphasizing the popularity of the Internet (“www FAQs”). It is important to keep in mind that these websites differ from web pages which average 273 per site (“How Many Websites Are There”). The content that each one holds is incredibly diverse as well and while several support your argument as they are filled with video games, gossip, and social networking, all of these forms of communication are unique to the post-technology boom. Formal writing is extremely useful and effective but it has now been limited to appropriate situations.
Alexa.com, a company that “measures the web,” ranked Google followed by Facebook, YouTube, and Yahoo as the websites with the most hits worldwide (Top Sites). This absolutely  reflects the vibrant culture that the world has created. Facebook posts are mere blurbs of our thoughts, and that type of writing requires a different skill to communicate with a more concentrated audience than traditional formal essays. An audience that individuals care more about because of relationships outside of the Internet can be more difficult to write for. We are primarily inquisitive people and as the Internet has evolved, so has our capacity to learn more obscure things quicker in an increasingly condensed time period. Technology, ranging from tablets to laptops has opened up our potential to digest gigabytes of new viewpoints, aligning with the new globalization trend of efficiency. It has not hindered our writing, but made us more adaptable. Writing requires plenty of art and style, regardless of the subject matter. Even more so, one could argue that it has become more difficult because of the reduced patience of our society. More than being written well, our writing must be interesting and creative in order to capture and keep the attention of our readers.
One of the new niches in this unanticipated market is the freedom that blogging provides to people wishing to freely publish their work. Andrew Sullivan, reporter for the Atlantic, hails blogging as a source of raw writing compared to heavily edited news stories and the restrictions that reporters face.
 “No columnist or reporter or novelist will have his minute shifts or constant small contradictions exposed as mercilessly as a blogger’s are. A columnist can ignore or duck a subject less noticeably than a blogger committing thoughts to pixels several times a day. A reporter can wait—must wait—until every source has confirmed. A novelist can spend months or years before committing words to the world. For bloggers, the deadline is always now. Blogging is therefore to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud” (Sullivan)
Blogging is stream-of-consciousness writing that minimizes office politics and creates a transparent environment that the American public is increasingly craving, writing that is “rich in personality” and “as immune to faking as possible” (Sullivan). It has also revived nonfiction writing as blogs are gaining popularity with their easy self-publication. This is all aligning with a global trend towards valuing diversity.
Literacy is not only stemming from book smart knowledge but also common sense. This common sense is evolving quicker than ever because of technology. Professor of Management Practice William George is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic and has created the Authentic Leadership Development program at Harvard Business School. He insists that "the most successful leaders will not necessarily be those with the highest IQ, of course, they will need to be intelligent. But they'll also need to have a high level of cultural and emotional intelligence" (Hanna). Professor George has embraced our youth’s potential and instead of discounting us, he has committed to capitalizing on the positive skills and knowledge that we are eager to apply in the workplace.
So, Hedges, as I bring my argument to a close, I would like to remind you that I remain a enthusiastic and hopeful individual that today, students are just as literate (if not more so) than they have been in the past as a direct result of technology and the access to the Internet. Humanity is evolving faster than ever, as it has for the past 3,000 years thanks to brilliant minds aided by technology.
Respectfully,
Jilson Schlachter

Works Cited
"Civic Literacy." Civic Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.
"Frequently Asked Questions About Books and Reading." American Library Association. American Library Association, July 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://www.ala.org/tools/ libfactsheets/readingfaq>.
Hanna, Julia. "Developing the Global Leader - HBS Working Knowledge." Developing the Global Leader - HBS Working Knowledge. Harvard Business School, 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. <http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6967.html>.
Hedges, Chris. "America the Illiterate." Truthdig.com. Truth Dig, 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. <http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081110_america_the_illiterate/>.
"How Many Websites Are There ?" News of Delhi. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. <http:// www.newsofdelhi.com/internet/how-many-websites-are-there>.
"Literacy." Learnersdictionary.com. Ed. Jane Mairs. Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/literacy>.
Moos, Julie. "New York Times Circulation up 40% as Newspaper Numbers Generally Flat | Poynter." Poynter. The Poynter Institute, 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http:// www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/193612/new-york-times-circulation-up-40-as- newspaper-growth-generally-flat/>.
"Number of Libraries in the United States." American Library Association. American Library Association, Dec. 2011. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/ alalibraryfactsheet01>.
Sullivan, Andrew. "Why I Blog." The Atlantic. Atlantic Magazine, Nov. 2008. Web. 8 Jan. 2013.
"Top Sites." Alexa Top 500 Global Sites. N.p., 24 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. <http:// www.alexa.com/topsites>.
"WWW FAQs: How Many Websites Are There?" WWW FAQs: How Many Websites Are There? N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. <http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/misc/sizeofweb.html>.
YouTube. Perf. Chris Hedges and Allan Gregg. YouTube. TVO, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHle_turjes>.