Why devalue handwriting in public school?
By Dave Read, Lenox, MA, March 23, 2026 – Because America’s founding generation developed and honed their intellects by reading and writing, they understood the nuance and subtlety of written language. That is why it was sufficient for them to bar Congress from “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” in the Bill of Rights, without also detailing the myriad instances in which certain spoken or published utterances violate both common and statutory law.
So few Americans today develop and hone their intellects by reading and writing that nuance confuses them; they must be told precisely what can or cannot be said before they violate some law or another. Since it would take forever to list all the potential instances of fraudulent speech, assault, libel, and slander, wouldn’t the sensible solution be to ban all speech until it has been approved by the “powers that be?”
Which may be why Americans are more likely to be encouraged to watch and listen rather than read and write, as the principle method by which they develop and hone their intellects. Why else would America’s children be made to depend on artificial devices for self expression, rather than taught how to write by hand – which would liberate them from greedy media moguls and lifetime dependence on machines designed to become obsolete every 18 months?
When TRUTH is FALSE…
No supporter of Trump has read detailed accounts of his lifetime of good works, nor seen printed evidence of his criminal, physical, and mental fitness for office. Instead of researching among reputable sources, Trump voters prefer to believe whatever they feel like believing, as if Truth were whatever the FELON-IN-CHIEF SAYS IT IS ONLINE!!!!!! Whatever is posted to Trump’s cynically named platform must carry the presumption of being false, because the owner is a serial liar*.
Handwriting is free for your lifetime, while pens and paper are dirt cheap compared to the price of a lifetime of cellphones, and/or tablets, notebooks and desktop computers, which require data plans and internet subscriptions. Why then, do the “powers that be” de-emphasize handwriting to condemn people to the use of artificial devices to express themselves?
If you are lied about anywhere but on “social media,” the publisher or broadcaster may be more liable for damages, or for more damages, than the original liar is. But platforms owned by Musk, Trump, Zuckerberg, Google, and the others are free to make considerable bank on an infinity of lies and half-truths, while bearing zero responsibility for the harm they cause.
Section 230 of the ill-named Communications Decency Act of 1996 immunizes the companies that get filthy rich by broadcasting lies, threats, and insurrection plans to worldwide audiences. Since when do whole business sectors, such as Big Tech, have more effective representation in Congress and the Courts than We, the People do?
Well, since We, the People were transformed from citizens, who know how a bill becomes a law, into consumers, who love to see themselves online, which is almost like being on TV. If that is the case, then a shared narcissism may be what attracts so many Americans to their favorite president.
Both the president and the people who vote for him are stars in their own reality shows. Sadly, only the president and his phony platform are immune from prosecution for the harm they cause, while We, the People are on the hook to replenish the national treasury, and to replace the many dead citizens killed with impunity by agents obedient to Trump, and the dead warriors who carry out his illegal and/or immoral orders.
* “During and between his terms as President of the United States, Donald Trump has made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims. Fact-checkers at The Washington Post documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term, an average of 21 per day.” Read more at Wikipedia.
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