ABSTRACT
You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish —William Randolph Hearst to Frederic Remi
reported by James Creelman, On the Great Highway
The medium is the mess —Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media
The medium is the mass —Marshall McLuhan, The Medium Is the Message
Preliteratr societies were oral, and their storytellers were highly valued as “meaning makers” (Baran, 2002, p. 39) who passed on what was important to the culture. In such societies, people rely on each other for survival, so rules are clearly defined. Their stories-which intertwine history and myth-teach important lessons and preserve important cultural traditions and values. In general, preliterate societies have been shown to have been more egalitarian than more developed societies, with considerable harmony between the sexes. Many of these preliterate societies were matriarchal: Both men and women worshiped god desses, women served as chief priests, and property even passed through the female line (Shlain, 1998).
