Cowgirl Thrillers
Page 21
Couple and some centuries have passed since the heyday of the Cowboys and Injins and we have a ton of information about those ancient times in the Hollywood stories that have been passed down around the campfire for generations.
We actually live in a much more primitive world in many ways. Of course we are at the same time and very ironically much more advanced. Certainly in the Center Worlds, at the core of modern civilization the advances are astonishing. But here, on our new little Rock home on the edge of the Cosmos, life is in some ways much closer to the 1880s.
Everywhere in the Cosmos man seems to still be man. Loving, hateful, spiteful, belligerent, jealous, envious, greedy, murderous, you name it. Though we like to believe we have risen above our primitive ancestors, we have but to retell an Old John Wayne western story to see that times were the best and the simplest then. These old stories represent the best in men, which those dreamers among us hope to recapture.
Reality, however, is a cruel mistress and these new hot dogging interlopers are a deadly reminder. The plot we uncover. It’s a long story.
Can we ever revive the high standards of the olden days? After all, we are all but students of The Duke.
They’s a lot said about what happened betwixt the Hollywood years and now. It’s called the Troubles. One of the things that happened is the schools.
Now the Center has their own story ‘bout what happened, we got ours. All I got to say about their ‘official story” is that half of writing history is all about hiding the truth.
This is the story I got figured out. It’s the truth as I see it.
First there was petroglyphs, symbols carved in rock. Then they had hieroglyphs, fancier symbols writ on papyrus. Then several someones came up with alphabets. Next they got everyone in schools and taught ‘em readin’ and writin’. Then they had printing and made books. People wrote in a hurry, ran the letters together into a stream called cursive. Then electronics come along and they all started typing. They used to say that the age of electronics was the information age. In point of fact, I’ve heard it said that without careful personal censorship it could be the drowning in information age.
So to cut down on all the info cluttering the kids’ minds and save teaching time the schools decided no need for cursive, it’s antiquated and typing is faster. Then as everyone got a laptop or tablet, the schools said no one needs to write anymore. Pencil and paper is old school.
What happened next of all, as far as has been passed down, was they quit teaching writing at all! Everyone typed into electronic devices: phones, pads, palms. Folks started listening to books rather than reading them.
That seemed all fine and dandy until a few generations passed and somebodies, a government or three, no doubt, got in an argument and set off the first big bang of the Troubles. An EMP it was and...
Shazam, no more electronic devices. That EMP left ‘em, for all intents, unplugged.
Oh and, oops, suddenly we didn’t know how to write anymore, much less read. Hell, we had never used a pencil. The few Neanderthal ancients that remembered how to write, not many could read it. Hand written letters are not as exactly each the identical same and so way harder to read for folks used to keyboard script. During the poor hardscrabble post war existence, no time to study up on it either. Hell of a deal.
Took us a mighty long time to come back from that. Still a passel of illiterates out there.
So once again, Civilization: Good, bad or just plain stupid?
11 Wilderness