This paper analyzes critical discourses on new communication technologies using the metaphors of Luddites and vandals. Luddites represent forces of inertia who destroy technological artifacts that symbolize social change, while vandals are seen as villains who disrupt culture and social order. The paper examines examples from literature that represent major currents of criticism during technological breakthroughs in communication, such as writing, print, and electronic media. It argues that these critical works are not just criticisms of a single medium, but representations of larger fears about social change brought on by new technologies.

1. Luddites and Vandals:
New Communication Technologies as Cultural Catastrophes
Maciej Maryl (University of Warsaw)
In this paper I am interpreting critical discourses on new communication technologies using two metaphors: a
luddite and a vandal. Vandals stand for villains of conservative criticism, who destroy the pillars of culture and social
order, whereas luddites represent the powers of inertia, as heroes of transition who devastate the artefacts which
symbolize the social change. Both figures will be analysed in terms of a synecdoche – destruction of an element is an
action against the whole process.
I analyze this attitude on the examples drawn from literature, which represent the major
currents of criticism during main technological breakthroughs in communication
technology: the advent of writing (Plato, Phaedros), print (Lope de Vega, Fuente Ovejuna)
and electronic media (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451). The analysis also concerns
contemporary discourses on literature amongst new media (A. Kernan, The Death of
Literature; M. Roche Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century).
I claim that those writings are in fact critical not only of a medium, but rather of a larger social change. The medium
is perceived as a part of a larger process that ‘destroys’ the culture.