We Gon’ Ride

What is lost in a literate culture?  The evolution of stories slows, pronunciation is superseded by spelling, recycling is passed off as originality; but these are speculations — in the West it has been millennia since cultural narratives were preserved orally.  Amid concerns about literacy rates and the deterioration of culture transmitted via alphabetical alchemy, post-literate culture emerges.  Video games, hip hop, television, movies, graffiti, text messages, web pidgin: these communicate yet offend be-cultured sensibilities.  Why?