In his article Blinded By Science: When First We Clicked, Bruno Maddox brings to light a travesty of sorts, one that becomes more apparent as the dialogue unfolds. The telegraph retires after a century and a half of faithful service, but the red headed stepchild of worldwide communications inventions doesn’t receive its due regard. One might think, “Who cares?” Maddox reaches into his toolbox of wit, channeling the satirical tendencies of Douglas Adams, his article fraught with such literary devices as hyperbole, metaphors, and verbosity to highlight the underwhelming send-off of the nation’s telegraph system. By going over the top in his diatribe, Maddox’s ironic humor transforms the media’s strange aversion to recognizing the historical significance of creation of the telegraph from a mere blip on the radar to an unfairness readers of the article can’t help but empathize with.
The title of the article itself is a metaphor; When First We Clicked, likening the telegraph’s clicking as electrical signals transmits over wire laid between stations to the clicking of a computer mouse. This comparison to the Internet is littered throughout this article; “How similar is the Internet to the old Victorian telegraph system? On a superficial level, extremely.” Alas, when competing against more recent powerhouse creations such as the Internet, forgotten is the decades-long struggle, the “impressive, nay, herculean” effort put forth, the toil against a seemingly impervious barrier to worldwide communications that was necessary to implement the telegraph. One observable tone in his work is his constant emphasis that the aftermath of the internet is not something unforeseen. He shared that to hail the transformation brought on by the internet unprecedented is to give our ancestors disrespect. Although, he used jokes to prove his point, there is still an underlying to the seriousness in the principle he was trying to point. He also adds that the hype people give the internet does not compare to the brilliance of the telegraph invention. To prove his point to the claim, he mentioned that due to the intellectual triumph of the telegraph, the internet is nothing close to it. What he was ultimately trying to convey in his satiric letter is that society turned its back on something more intellectually advance and revolutionary in favor of the internet. Despite, the obvious advantage the internet gave the world; he would still want to remind his readers that the internet would not materialize without the influence of the communication system that came before it.
Maddox’s combination of wordiness mixed with snarky humor and cutting comparisons works surprisingly well to evoke a sense of solemnity at the disservice rendered. His use of blatant satire and eloquent verbosity backs the reader up against a wall where they cannot help but realize how much the telegraph changed the world. His vivid metaphors and unapologetic sarcasm conjure unexpected feelings that a major injustice has occurred; that the telegraph did not so much as warrant notable mention as a stepping stone for future innovations on the long haul communications front has become downright shameful. “What hath God wrought,” indeed. Overall, the text is surprisingly informative despite its comedic tone. It gave pieces of evidence in order for the author to prove the points he was making. Society is selective in giving recognition to discovery on the basis of its impact to society, when the telegraph system was invented it too changed the landscape of the world. It deserves the same recognition the internet is receiving to date.
References:
Maddox B. Monsters of our own Making. The Washington Post . 29 Sept 1996
Maddox B. Blinded by Science: When We First Clicked. Discover Magazine. 2006
