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Ancient Printing Discussion

In class today, we learned about the ancient forms of printing. We discussed the Mesopotamian form of stamping important documents, the Roman screw press, the wood block method from the Han Dynasty and the Egyptians, the first ever mobile type press created in China, and the Gutenberg created in Germany. When we were talking about the Gutenberg and how its creation made printing the bible much easier,  I was very interested in the fact that the top tier of the social pyramid disagreed with the creation of the press.
Because only the rich, powerful, and influential could even comprehend purchasing a bible at the time, what they said of the bible was the truth to those who could not afford it. With this power, these people could tell the lower class anything, and pass it off as "God's Word." With the creation of the Gutenberg printing press though, it made writing these bibles cheaper,more efficient, and better for the people, as it was written in their own language, German. Because of this the higher-ups understood that the press could lead to their own downfall.
When I heard this in class, I decided to correlate it to our modern day life. I believe that although definitely not the same situation, people in power do use their status and symbol to tell us things that they want us to hear. And in many cases, the things they want us to hear are not exactly the truth. But with journalism and the media coverage holding their loyalty to the people, it leaves me feeling safer knowing that little can be hid when journalists are upholding the elements of truth, and loyalty.

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