About Communication
The man’s efficiency in the face of nature, his detachment face to the other animals, lies in organization. As individual, man is weak; organized is the most powerful Human society, like those of bees, ants, monkeys etc. has a natural structure of organization, with leaders and subordinates, handlers and handled mass. The complexity of the hierarchy of human societies must not make us to lose sight of the fact its natural character. There are natural laws that we ought to know and keep. Consequently, any attempt to modify its natural structure is doomed to failure or a source of errors.
It results that one of first problems is that of the selection of the leaders. I do not know how is in bees or ants. In primates, and generally in big animals, the dominant male imposes himself by force. In men, the leaders need arguments to persuade their fellows to follow then and not the others.
From the political point of view, we catalogue the societies just based on the way in which the leaders are selected: how they reach at power and how they keep the power. The classics of the antiquity identified three basic types of organisations, through which the societies cross cyclically, because no one of them is perfect, and people’s dissatisfactions make them think that the other one would be better. They are monarchy, democracy and oligarchy. Aristotle named them royalty, a republic and aristocracy, with their derived forms: tyranny, oligarchy and demagogy ("Politika", book III, chapter V). In my opinion, oligarchy is the fitted word for the natural organization, toward which one comes back repeatedly, and monarchy and democracy are the two opposite each other, toward any society oscillates like a pendulum. At any passing from a form to the other, only a change of personages occurs, with some smaller or greater disorders, after which the society comes back to its natural organization, unfortunately only transiently toward the opposite position. Why they behave this way is people’s bustle and the wish of some to leaders instead of the others. (If bustle is a word less imposing, replace it with Bergson’s "élan vital", Schopenhauer’s "will" or other consecrated terms. I would introduce the term "vital instinct" or better "expansionist instinct", something like a personal "Big Bang".
Every change must be prepared, justified, make arguable. Ample scenarios are built in this order, in which besides social-political arguments, engrafted on permanent people’s dissatisfactions, religious arguments appear, sometime even a new religion, necessary for giving people a hope. In the last analyze, monarchy, democracy and anything else, are only scenarios, or – to be more modern - screen plays.
But the organization supposes communication and here there is the key of humanity’s success: man invented the language especially for communicating. Organization and language developed themselves together in order to coordinate people’s actions, beginning with the hunting of primitive man until the most complex activities of our days.
Along with the society, language developed itself as well. So it always happened and so it does now. If someone deludes himself with the fancy that the evolution of language is due to somebody saying monologues in face of an admiring audience, it means that he suffered a professional disease, out of touch with the reality. In the communication process, if the source did not receive a proper answer from the receiver, it means either this one did not understand the message or there was a dysfunction on the channels of communication, so that the communication did not occur. Some "precious" artists ought to think such questions, arts being a process of communication as well, of course with specific means. The means could not modify the essence of the process, which suppose a purpose, as without purpose we drift away from the reality.
I made a small parenthesize, hoping not without profit. I am coming back to organisation. Its highest form in modern epoch is the state. Due to its complexity, the society structures itself from the reasons of functionality. In this way, leaders and subordinates appear and – along with them – politics and political fights. Those who want to be leaders have to identify, point out and infer an aim, a purpose toward which the society should direct its steps and to persuade their fellow that they are the fitted men to be their guides. And so, the propaganda comes into being. The identification of the aim is a psychological art. The leaders must speculate the deepest people’s sentiments and wishes, which is not just easy, because these change themselves in the course of time. Today the democracy is in fashion, generated by people’s wish to be equal each other. It is the self-pride at the highest level. Man wants to be his own God. In the past, instead of this insatiate self-pride, its opposite was: the fear. The fear of thunderbolts, of more powerful animals, of drought or flooding, the fear of anything, but also and the hope that nothing bad would occur to him, or, maybe, on the contrary, they will be lucky, deities will be benevolent and – why not? – they will reach in Heaven. And so, the religion was born. Is there any difference between political propaganda recognised as it and the religion used in the same purpose? Evidently, not! Both speculate people’s sentiments. I said that it is not just easy, because between the two ones, and especially inside of them – there is an infinity of nuances and the politician just identify and fructify in his interest. Even if it is an art, we do not deal with it now.
The most advanced form of languages is in literature, namely in books. Along with the generalization of literacy, more and more people want to turn their statute of readers in that of the writer, if he appreciates that he has something to say toward the world. On the other hand, in a less or greater measure, any person is tented to philosophise or at least to meditate. We have all reasons to suppose that man always did it. And if he philosophise, he want to communicate his thoughts to his fellows. The expression "his fellow" must be interpreted ad literam, as people can communicate only inside of the same culture and at their level of understanding.
The dream of communication has become possible in a greater and greater measure thanks to the evolution of technology. This is why, from the past, there was kept only savant thought recorded in all kind of writings on stone, skin, papyrus, paper etc., today more and more people want to see their thinking recorded and distributed on areas as large as possible, which is very good even if it raises new questions, creates new institutions and mentalities. About books under the form of leafs bound on a size (codex) we may speak only since the Romans had this idea and offered us the possibility of skipping over uninteresting pages. Till then, the ceramic platens, papyrus scroll and the others were unhandy enough. Today, the Internet is the champion of communication. This is why the idiosyncrasy of some people to the Internet is similar with an affirmation like: <I like literature less the letters between ‘f’ and ‘m’>. And still, the book continue to remain the mark of perennial writings, reason for which very many people want to publish books, and some of them make it even with their money. It seems that the wish and proud to leave a trace of his thoughts toward his followers is a fruit of democracy. No one signs the Bible. Socrates did not endeavour to write anything. Information used to be conveyed by word of mouth, not only horizontally, but vertically as well from a generation to the other. Today, there are millions of authors with too few messages. Here is a difference!
As I said, the development of technology allowed the access to books of a greater and greater number of readers and potential writers. Literature exceeded the borders of savant though, diversified and adapted itself to requirements and tastes all social categories, which does not mean that anyone may address to everyone. In a certain measure, this idea seems possible in leisure literature, though even here people’s different level of culture impose different levels of literature.
Barnaby Rich wrote in 1613: "One the maladies of this century is the quantity of books; people are as much overload with them they are not able to digest the abundance of useless stuff daily produced and word- wide-spread". What else happened since then? As it was expected, more and more books appeared. The "malady" has become pandemic dimensions. As a matter of fact, the author himself wrote other books, to show us that not their number disturbed him but the concurrency of the others authors. Today, after the appearance of the Internet, like then, after the appearance of the printing press, some authors have the same fear: "what the humanity will do with such an abundance of information?". The answer is simple" what they did so far. The real question is another. Not because we would need a new one, but because the old one was wrong. How to get through the multitude of all kinds of information – written or non-written – how to filter the useful and protect ourselves from the useless one, were our problem forever.
For the beginning, as printing presses were only a few, they needed a filter of works admitted for publishing, a skilful staff. They were intellectuals of authentic value. In the meantime, it has become a profession as whichever else, opened to anybody and the criterions of selection changed according with the desires of the "sleeping partner", let he be a politician, great priest, etc.
From the reader’s point of view, there are some different criterions of selection, according with his requirements. In order to help him, a new profession, that of literary criticism, appeared. Even if, theoretically, its role is to orientate the readers, the relativism of the evaluations allows the critics to serve some particular interests. Today, literary criticism has become futile. As this assertion seems too severe, I am giving an example from a different domain: sports. Here, there are three different categories of professionals: sportsmen, journalists and admirers. Those three categories do not interfere with each other but accidentally and in a little measure. The most important is the journalists are not sportsmen. In literature, instead, the journalists and literary critics want to be writers as well, and sometimes they even are. Of course, they cannot be non-partisan, their objectivity is low. In spite of their ambitions, the reader feel their intentions pro domo and renounce to read such publications.
Besides, literary critics do not delimitate their domain. It is not possible today for anyone to cover all fields, even more in culture. Such pretensions denote only ignorance and not an authentic culture.
A proof of critics’ inefficiency is the fact that most bought books are those with great publicity and not those recommended by the literary critics. In marketing, the most convincing publicity is that based on the recommendation of some professionals in that field. They will better sell a pair of skis, for example, if a famous skier recommends that brand. It is not the same in literature. The buyers ignore critics’ opinions. Why? Why people reckon skier’s authority and do not that of the literary critics? Simple! Because the skier proved his competence!
Besides critics, some specialists appeared too, "connoisseurs" of the recipes of how to write. They teach us how to make literature, as if would be a kind of food. They judge others’ works according to their recipe book, not thinking if they understood author’s message, the authors usually being with many intellectual levels above the judgers.
Although some dictionaries consider literature as the totality of writings, there is also the acceptation of artistic creation. Where it begins and where it finishes is difficult to specify. In the past, even scientific works were written in verses. Today, our pragmatism would make ridicule such pretensions. The style of a business letter is much different from that of an artistic creation, even if nobody forbids us from composing nice letters.
The arts destined to satisfy our aesthetic pleasures have as objective not only the audio-video or gastronomic pleasures, but mostly the intellectual ones, particularly those that reach our conscience. Some distinctions are necessary and I will do it through some examples:
• Level 1: "A wolf ate a sheep". In an official report, they will relate the happening in such terms: "The special commission came on the scene and found that …." Finally, he will conclude the accountants will record in registers the necessary records and so on. Nothing remarkable! Nothing to impress us! A writer, instead, will begin with some phrases like this: "Over the bed of golden dry leafs, the first snow flakes laid themselves, brought by the cold wind from the peaks of the mountains already whiten. The old shepherd, anguished by transcendental insomnia, was thinking to …." Finally, the reader, with his eyes wet by tears, is ready to take a gun for kill all the wolf from the world. I was ironical, but it is not what matters now.
• Level 2: "Wolfs eat sheep". It is an equally banal finding as well, but a small quotient of generalization. Together with some statistical data, this can be the subject of a report toward an international forum, destined to advert public opinion and politicians upon the danger that wolf eat sheep. The poet, instead, by the means of several verses, realizes what tens of international forums do not succeed, especially if he turns the sheep in deer.
• Level 3 would be an idea more abstract, at 4 maybe just a philosophic one and so on.
Common for all levels is the necessity of the content, a chiefly idea. As for the clarity of the narration, it is not only a condition, but also an ideal of every authentic intellectual. As much the idea is more complex, profound or abstract, the more the clarity of exposition is necessary. A confuse narration denotes either the confusion in author’s mind or an attempt of masking the lack of any idea. Do not be let deceive yourself by difficult texts. Probably they belong to some deceivers. If the narration has artistic valences, touches our conscience, only then we pertain to a literary creation. The measure of artistic fulfilment consists in the persistence of the idea induced in reader’s mind, the way in which it stimulates the meditation of the topic. An unclear exposition does not make the message more artistic.
As the social pyramid has its base at bottom and the top up, it is natural that most writers operate at inferior levels, those of simple ideas. This situation should not bother us. It is the reality and we must accept it if we accept the democracy. Hiding it would be useless. The readers will choose books according to their level and he could not be deceived. Writing some confusing phrases, they do not become more academic, do not change the level and make the author more scholar, on the contrary. Any reader will reject an abstruse text and every clever man will identify in the writer an impostor.
I said that the society looks like a pyramid. This is not quite exact. In statistics, its shape looks more like a pear. As we do not pay much attention to its lower part, the pyramid may remain as a symbol of the idea that most people are at the bottom and only a few at the top.
Coming back to books, I know a person absolute remarkable by her ignorance. Because of the lack of elementary information and the ridicule of the association of ideas crossing her mind, any talk with her is impossible, especially if you have not enough sense of humour or you are in a mood less ludic. And still, this person has read almost as many books as any authentic scholar, maybe even more. Unfortunately for her, only romance. Evidently, not a learned person could want to consider her his fellowship. A question is inevitable: where begins and where finishes the lectures of a learned person? Judging about some "men of letters" – the lectures of which stop where their understanding is more difficult – it results that the slice is very thin, mostly limited at "what I know is culture; what I do not know are farthings.