Poets, priests and politicians Have words to thank for their positions. The Police, "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da"I always liked that line from The Police's classic song, but only recently has it hit me how true they are. It's becoming increasingly clear to me that our world is text, and that those who control text increasingly control what we think. I don't mean this in an alarmist way. It has always been thus. We a Poets, priests and politicians Have words to thank for their positions. The Police, “De Do Do Do De Da Da Da”I always liked that line from The Police’s classic song, but only recently has it hit me how true they are. It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that our world is text, and that those who control text increasingly control what we think. I don’t mean this in an alarmist way. It has always been thus. We are largely a product of the things we read, from our school primers to the People magazine we guiltily read, wondering just what did Angelina Jolie think about Brad Pitt on their first date.Maybe I mean it as a salve for my own wounded pride. I was an English major, after all, focused on reading and writing. So it’s natural for me to believe that words are the key to power. Maybe it’s just wish fulfillment…. But then I look at what I spend all day doing. Typing words (email, blogs, IM). Reading words (email, blogs, IM, news articles, RSS feeds, etc.). Yes, listening to words, too, but I suppose this doesn’t really count for my purposes in this entry. The point is, I (and we) spend much of our time with text. We’re influenced by more than text, of course, like music, art, and what-not. But if you’re a poet, priest, or politician, your cheapest and arguably best and fastest means to reach a mass audience is through text.All of which makes me wonder when world leaders will turn to text as a way to shortcut shaping of mass opinion. They already do this, of course, but why doesn’t President Bush blog? (No jokes, please.) US President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to do the equivalent with his fireside chats. But it’s expensive and not easy to get airtime on TV or radio. It’s free to blog. Of course, it’s hard to get attention via text or any other medium of expression. But given the cost of text versus the costs of other media…text looks pretty good.All of which means that it just might be worth spending more time with text in school. More literature. More writing. (Yes, I know this is self-serving, as it happens to be one of my only talents. Very convenient for me to want everyone else to like what I like.) More time spent learning how people use and manipulate text to change human emotion and behavior.More time with code, since this is the language of machines, increasingly used to stitch the world together (and to pull it apart). More time, in other words, with Text. Open Source