Wendell Berry essay and responses

My initial impression was that Mr. Berry was in denial. By ignoring the value of computers given to schools “in need of books” I thought he being very limited by his own short-sightedness. Indeed, the internet gives access to literally thousands of books, articles, newspapers, etc. Mr. Berry comes across to someone entrenched in this generation as typical of the oldest living Americans. He appears to be literally afraid of computers, looking upon them feeling palpable fear. Wendell Berry does much to add to the perception that he is ignorant.My opinion on Mr. Berry was changed dramatically after reading his response to his critics. Digesting the venomous responses of his detractors, he perceives that he has, “scratched the skin of a technological fundamentalism,” consequently that he represented a, “a threat to their complacency.”

From this statement one can view Mr. Berry as simply entrenched on his own side of the generation gap. His intelligence comes across clearly; his philosophy therefore becomes “different” rather than “ignorant.”

There were traces of this intelligence when he originally pointed out that new tools should be cheaper and easier to use. This would cast him in the role of the staunch pragmatist, by definition rational and thorough. One thing that throws the modern reader is his moral justification for not buying computers. His opinions are easily perceived as elaborate self-deception. He paints his critics in this very same light when he responds to their ill-informed attacks on his wife, labeling them, “audacious and irresponsible gossips.”

Overall, I found this article to be very enlightening. Berry challenged my preconceived notions of older generations.