Will the presses ever stop?

2005-10-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

People did not stop going to the cinema when television was introduced. Mind you, the medium did not exactly replace the big screen in terms of quality, so it is really no wonder that cinema survived the first onslaught of TV.

Admittedly, fewer folks are going to the movies than ever before, but I don't think it is strictly television to blame. This is another matter, not too dissimilar from the discussion of print versus electronic media.

I may as well take my stand, right here and now... Print will never die. We will always have the printing press, and we will always use it.

When electronic media is as common as dew, everywhere present, everywhere acknowledged, it will still lack the multi-dimensional impact of words and images caste upon a physical medium. The feel is what we yearn for, and it is this feel that greatly increases the relevance of the insribed message.

We will always be tactile creatures; we will always be sensient beings. What we touch, or perceive as though it were touch, will likewise weigh more heavily than any message printed on the screen, no matter how profound.

While we cannot touch red we can sure feel hot. There must be some unexplanable warmth in all those red and orange containers right at children's eye-level in the shopping aisle. Think of the fortunes that have been made?

It simply follows, then, that what Brendon Sinclair, (www.brendonsinclair.com, "Why My Hard Copy Newsletter Gets Better Results Than My Email Newsletter") is relating in his comparison of e-mail versus hard copy further backs up this idea of the profundity of print, regardless of message.

Who can forget the impact of the printing press? The Reformation of the Western Church, the Renaissance, Thomas Mallory et al, the Press, the rise of Democracy, the propagation of Literature, the advent of the Age of Letters, just to rekindle of few?

Electronic media will never erase these profound moments and eras from history; but, the loss of the printing press could very well turn the tables on these marked events that most certainly emerged as a direct result of its creation.

Even with the internet, universality can only be achieved and maintained as long is there are presses rolling. We will forever live in Babel, and it is the printing presses that will keep our language alive. What we see, and feel, will always outweigh what we simply see alone.

Stone Throw Away

Will the presses ever stop?