1. This is exactly right and inspires a few thoughts I have on Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Ulysses, literacy, FDR, Eisenhower & presidential reading.https://twitter.com/emilynussbaum/status/1113937215757877248 …
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6. Bush Jr. also, the evidence suggests, dutifully read the popular histories Karl Rove and others gave him. He was still part of the world of literacy in a way that Trump is not.
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7. Some presidents have been great readers (TR, Woodrow Wilson, FDR,
@dick_nixon), some more casual. But again, it doesn't really matter what they read as the fact that they did read: reading giving them habits of linear, sequential thinking & abstraction which Trump lacks.Show this thread -
8. Neil Postman, a forgotten prophet, is very good on the specific habits of mind that you get from being a reader.pic.twitter.com/tWeLDVaQ8L
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9. Alot the traits Trump has that some people see as symptoms of mental decline (the limited vocabulary, the non-sequitur and logical muddle, the frequent resort to slurs and crude nick-names) are more accurately seen as signs of post-literacy.
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10. This is a good point. Trump not only watches lots of TV. He watches the shittiest TV. No prestige TV for him, with its narrative ambitions and explorations of ambiguity.https://twitter.com/emilynussbaum/status/1113945275528351750 …
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11. Anyways, I wrote about Trump & post-literacy a while ago for
@newrepublic. I'll add: Trump's post-literarcy might explain the performative literacy of some Democratic candidates:https://newrepublic.com/article/144940/trump-tv-post-literate-american-presidency …Show this thread
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yes, they were readers, and this totally demolishes Nussbaum’s thesis that presidents who read books are good. It just doesn’t matter.
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Reagan was famously inspired by the movie the day after to pursue arms control with the Soviets.
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Reagan was from the pre-television era.
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Could that be because he formed his worldview in the 1950s and 60s?
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