WORLD & I
June 2006, n.p.

"This article appeared in the June 2006 issue and is reprinted with permission from The World & I, a publication of the Washington Times Corporation, Copyright © 2006."

The Power of Reading: Reading and Freedom

By Donald E. Howard

• This is the third of a four-part series on the joys and benefits of a simple but cherished pastime: reading.

Reading Can Fortify Human Freedoms

     

Thomas Jefferson

To an extraordinary degree human freedoms are dependent on the spread and free-exchange of ideas, opinions and knowledge. The principal vehicles for the free circulation of information are books, magazines and newspapers. They are the foundation upon which the democratic societies that most protect human freedoms are created and are able to flourish. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the American Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, recognized the importance of freedom of information to sustaining human freedoms. In clarifying his position on the issue, he once wrote, "The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right: and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter" (Bartlett, 1955, p. 373). As Jefferson recognized, freedoms are dependent upon an informed public making collective choices about their institutions and leaders.

     The daily and weekly newspapers are the most complete information medium for telling us about ourselves. Those individuals that can and do read their papers know their communities well and are better prepared to lend their voices to guiding the affairs of their communities. Newspapers have been characterized as printed diaries of the local community. To a considerable degree, they are that. What goes on in the community, things both consequential and inconsequential, are usually reported in the daily and weekly news journals. They generally stand out as the most complete information organ in the local community. As such, they have been a principal contributor to the growth of human freedoms in those societies in which freedom of the press is accepted and practiced.

     An interesting example of the role of newspapers in building freedoms can be found in Poland in the early twentieth century. As Polish citizens learned to read and began receiving newspapers, their interest in governmental affairs grew accordingly. In the following dialogue, three Polish men from that era are discussing how reading their newspaper, The Gazeta, had helped them to get involved in the political life of their country. They were attending a meeting of the Polish National Democratic Party when one of the three made the following observation. "If it had not been for The Gazeta none of us peasants would be here at this meeting....For although The Gazeta did not call us to the meeting, it has made us citizens of our country, whereas, formerly we were only a dark herd of cattle" (Thomas and Znanieck, 1960, p. 1389). What they had discovered was that reading their newspapers informed them so thoroughly about their country and its needs that they became energized to participate in its affairs.

     Human freedoms are dependent upon informed citizen participation. Reading is an essential tool in that endeavor. The knowledge and information readers can glean from books and newspapers gives them a certain power. In the process of reading and analyzing what is read, important critical thinking skills are developed. With those skills and the information gained while reading, one is able to make intelligent choices. We become less dependent on others to make choices and decisions for us, but instead, we get involved with others in the affairs of our communities. That is what developed in the lives of the three Polish citizens cited above. Freedoms that come through reading have been displayed in many different ways.

     A thirty-three-year-old woman learned to read through a local literacy program. In writing about the freedom that literacy had brought into her life, she stated:

     Being able to read and write has changed my life. It has opened the door to a whole new world. I can write letters to my family and friends and notes to my children's teachers. I can budget my money now and soon will have saved enough to buy our first new car (Landers, 1992, p. Extra A4).

     Another reader who learned to read after reaching adulthood had a similar sense of exhilaration. When asked what he had gained from learning to read, he responded: "Self-respect--the understanding that I have control over my life for the first time....When you read, you're free. You're free to make mistakes, free to make the world change" (Anderson, 1990, p. 108). A new sense of human freedom is clearly present in the observations made by those new readers.

     Those American slaves who learned to read and write before their emancipation in 1863 found a new sense of freedom. One author, who has studied that period extensively, wrote:

     Slaves who learned to read and write were exceptional people who used their skills in literacy in exceptional ways....A significant portion of those who acquired literacy skills testified to using those skills to escape, and to help others escape; further, a large proportion of those same ex-slaves assumed leadership positions in community, religious, or abolitionist causes (Davidson, 1989, p. 149).

     Russian peasants found freedoms similar to those discovered by American slaves after government reforms were carried out between 1837-1861. As peasants were given increasing measures of personal choice, they found that literacy was virtually essential in order to fully enjoy their new freedoms.

     Peasant communes were allowed to establish capital funds for investment and emergency loans, and literacy was a useful skill for those who managed the fund and those who borrowed from it. Illiterate peasants kept records of these loans on a notched stick, called a birka, but the literate had the advantage of being able to check and keep such records with accuracy (Brooks, 1985, p. 5).

     Those peasants that wanted to take full advantage of concessions made by their government found that reading and writing was necessary for them to truly exercise their new privileges.

     Perhaps the most cherished human freedom of all is freedom of the mind. People cannot feel free unless they are free to acquire uncensored information in order to be well informed. One of Nelson Mandela's greatest frustrations in prison was his inability to get free and uncensored information about what was going on in his country outside the prison walls. Intellectual freedom exists only when people have access to the accumulated wisdom of the world in books, magazines and newspapers without it being filtered or censored by another person or agency. When people are isolated from freedom of choice in what they read or hear, they are denied an opportunity to study, examine and develop their own ideals of citizenship and how they should manage their lives. Reading biased or censored materials may supply us with some information, but it cannot fully inform us on important topics of discussion.

     Access to books and other printed materials is necessary to achieve a healthy state of intellectual freedom. A free library provides the ultimate in freedom of choice and expression. There we are free to read and judge whatever we find according to our own experience and conscience. Without the ability to read and the freedom to read freely expressed ideas and opinions, people are at the mercy of those who would exercise various forms of control over their lives. As Skinner has noted, "The literature of freedom has made an essential contribution to the elimination of many aversive practices in government, religion, education, family life, and the production of goods" (Skinner, 1971, p. 31). Well-read individuals recognize that people can have different ideas and opinions on issues of collective importance. But they will also recognize that the right to be different can only be protected when we support institutions and forms of government that foster human freedoms.

     Human freedoms are dependent on a well-informed citizenry that understands the origins and maintenance of freedom. That level of knowledge is most likely to exist in a society in which people are free to read materials that are produced in a free environment, one that is free of controlling dogmas, such as political or religious doctrines. That well-informed citizenry must also be free to create new ideas and grow into new areas of creativity. Malinowski (1944) stated the principle well when he wrote:

     Freedom is an indispensable ingredient of civilization. It guarantees the flowering of those spiritual qualities of man, primitive and civilized, which give birth to inspiration, to creative ideas, to the criticism of the old so that new knowledge, new art, and a finer moral quality may emerge. It is essential to the formation of social loyalties and group solidarity, through spontaneous choice and not by coercion. Freedom cannot be really established unless there is a premium on intellectual originality as well as on integrity, and on devotion to ideals (p. 335).

     Those human qualities stressed by Malinowski are most assured when people are able to exercise freedom of the mind through exploring the world of information and ideas contained in books. Along with intellectual originality, integrity and devotion to ideals comes another human freedom when we read widely.

     A human freedom not often discussed or even recognized is freedom from listlessness, apathy, unconcern and boredom. Those individuals who have little interest and care not what is happening around them are generally bored with life. They would like to be active and involved but lack the initiative to do so. They have no motivating interest to make productive use of their time for their minds are absent of stimulation, challenge or focus. They care little for they have not acquired enough interest to want to care. They are people who have not learned to use reading and other available tools for personal growth. In the words of De La Mothe Fenelon, an eighteenth century writer, such people are infected with, "That weary listlessness, which renders life unsupportable to the voluptuous and the indolent, is unknown to those who can employ themselves by reading" (Bartlett, 1955, p. 290).

     The Russian novel, "Oblomov," by Ivan Goncharov, contains a good example of human listlessness or stagnation (Goncharov, 1960). As the story develops the protagonist, Oblomov, seems to have become dormant, to have achieved a state of arrested development upon reaching adulthood. He becomes a model of procrastination and inaction. Any desire for achievement or ambition he ever held became a forgotten dream. He was unwilling to step forward and build a useful life. In the following excerpt from the book, the reader can easily feel the dullness that Oblomov feels in his life:

     He thought, too, of playing a part in society and in the distant future; at the turning point between youth and maturity, family happiness flitted brightly before his imagination. But days and years passed by: the soft down on his chin turned into stiff bristles, his shining eyes became dimmed, his waist broadened, his hair had begun to come out cruelly, he was turned thirty, and he had not advanced a step in any direction and was still standing at the threshold of his career as ten years before (p. 54).

     Oblomov failed to become engaged in the activity of daily living. He did not read or interact with people. Therefore he had acquired no mental or emotional stimulus to energize his life. He chose to dawdle his life away through inaction and, in the end, died an untimely death from boredom and lack of purpose.

     Freedom from apathy is an important human freedom that should not be overlooked, and it is one that can be greatly enriched through reading. Knowledge can help us to find that certain niche wherein we feel happy, content, productive and free.

Read other articles in this series by visiting The World & I Online archives:

     "The Power of Reading: Reading and Inspiration," by Donald E. Howard, April 2006. (Article #24983)

     "The Power of Reading: Reading and Companionship," by Donald E. Howard, May 2006. (Article #24991)

Notes

     Anderson, Walter. (1990). Read With Me. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

     Bartlett, John. (1955). Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 13th Ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

     Brooks, Jeffrey. (1985). When Russia Learned To Read. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

     Goncharov, Ivan. (1960). Oblomov. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc.

     Landers, Ann. (1992) Letters To Ann Landers Advice Column. Roanoke Times and World-News. Roanoke, Virginia. July 14.

     Malinowski, Gronislaw. (1944). Freedom and Civilization. New York: Roy Publishers.

     Skinner, B.F. (1971). Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

     Thomas, William I. and Znanieck, Florian. (1960). The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, Volume II. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Donald E. Howard is author of The Role of Reading in Nine Famous Lives (McFarland & Co., 2005). As a writer and career professional educator who has worked at all levels of the educational spectrum, from kindergarten to the university level, getting people to read widely in well-chosen books has been and remains his great interest and commitment.

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