Walter Ong

"Writing introduces division and alienation, but a higher unity as well. It intensifies the sense of self and foster more conscious interaction between persons. Writing is consciousness-raising."

This quote by Walter Ong is very interesting to me. I agree with this quote completely because he is not merely saying language, but more specifically writing in this quote. It think that writing naturally has much more of an effect on people than spoken language. This is especially relevant in our society because we value what is written down so much more than what is spoken. Take our government for example, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are the two most important pieces of legislation in our country's history, and they are written down. They are written down so that they are permanent, it is visible and understandable, not just the latter. By having things written down we are putting them unders much subject to scrutiny. This is because it is often made available for everyone to see. It is much harder to deny written work because it is an actual object. Spoken language is much easier to deny if need be.

As for where Ong writes about language having unity, I think that he is completely right. Written work has the power to unite massive amounts of people around a single idea. Written works have often throughout history created bonds between millions of people. Take the bible for example, it is one book that millions of people around the world can unite around. This is how bonds are formed. Also, I think that written work does not divide people as much as people unite around different works which from there causes disagreements and division. It is not the work that can cause division, but the opinions of the people that are the cause.