scribblings from a deist transhumanist libertarian minarchist citizen soldier

Literacy in the age of the ten-second attention span

Posted by Trevor in under other on Feb 16th, 2006 | View Comments |

Here’s an interesting editorial about the devolving state of literacy in the modern, technological societies of our 21st century.

But I’ll save the critical examination of my profession for another column. Today, I want to talk about one of the byproducts of all this mediocrity. Today I want to talk about the all-out assault on the English language and the role technology plays in that unprovoked and dastardly attack. I especially want to talk about the ways dumbing down the language is not only seen as acceptable, but is tacitly encouraged as the status quo.

Any number of my acquaintances excuse the bad writing and atrocious punctuation that proliferates in e-mail by saying, in essence, “Well, at least people are writing again.” Horse droppings. People have never stopped writing, although it’s reaching a point where you wish a lot of them would.

I tend to disagree with most of the conclusions reached by the author of the above. Yes, literary standards are changing. Yes there is more mediocre writing flooding the market. But language is supposed to evolve. It has to evolve. It’s in the nature of the users for that to happen. Standards are critical if you want to reach any meaningful level of success in writing, but in an increasingly diverse and complex world, you tailor your language to your audience. As the number and type of audiences for various information palettes grows so does the range of the language. English has always been spoken differently by different groups. I don’t think the growth of mediocrity and the growth of the English language are that closely related.

Technology has opened up access to a vast range of niche audiences. Yes, I find many blogs boring and filled with what I consider to be junk information. But that just means I’m not the target audience for that blog. Some blogs have a target audience of only one – the author. If you are still reading this blog entry, you probably are the target audience for my blog. Blogs and other new technologies are changing the rules for writers and readers alike.

But when change does violence to the accepted standards of the king’s English and takes the mother tongue into the realm of the unfathomable, as does almost all jargon coming out of the technology and business worlds, it’s our job as keepers of the grail to drive it back into the dark little hole from whence it came.

Honestly, I think good writers make their own rules. If you write well, people will read it. Why overcomplicate things? We haven’t used the King’s English in decades and we don’t have a king. Readability is king. Yes, we have a societal issue with attention spans. We also have an issue with our education system in many school districts. Our national and personal values are largely in a state of flux, and the language flexes with the flux. Literacy is going to survive this new century though. There are plenty of crusaders left to make sure of that. And jargon has a useful place in the world.

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Dale

Dan, I saw this,too.
The last 20 years have been very confusing to me on the issue of global trade. I heard tonight that 17.9% of US mfg jobs have gone overseas in the last five years thanks to free trade and free markets. Pat Buchanan has an interesting post on this in his magazine, too.
How then does an average American like me justify port security going to a country that recognized the Talban as legitimate? I don't. Remember when we stopped Japanese business from buying the concession business at Yosemite? There was a huge outcry about the Japanese buying into the National Park System.
Is there a sense of outrage anymore? I don't know.
Let's all go on a patriotic rant and demand that America be more important than money, more important than Iraq, more important than Iran, and more important than any foreign/international business. Certainly American security must be more important than the UAE.
Hey, you Congresssmen, get off your butts and save America for Americans!
Dan Cameron Rodill

Ah, but you still don't believe it? Leaders wouldn't? White House wouldn't?

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/16/060216174136.zov4zxal.html
Dan Cameron Rodill

Our leaders are getting ready to out-source the sale and management of 6 major U.S. ports (yes,including New York)to the Taliban-friendly United Arab Emirates. And the White House approves. So maybe the problem will become less the King's English and more the Emir's Arabic?

dcr
From Vietnam to Iraq, now it can be blogged (pending CENTCOM)

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/16/060216174136.zov4zxal.html
Dale

When I read something by a Pulitzer Prize winner, I am amazed with their command of language to evoke a precise feeling, emotion , thought , or scene.
Here is another example: try reading Moby Dick without a dictionary by your side. A terrific book that captures your attention, I cannot read but a few pages without consulting the meaning of a word.
I salute everyone that writes clearly.
GunnNutt

That took more than 10 seconds to read. Now im borred n i ned sumthng tht isnt so hrd 2 red...

I can't even do "bad writing" right! I agree that language evolution is healthy, but making up syntax and purposely misusing words and phrases is always going to piss me off. I even hate to end a sentence like that with a preposition.

Even if we can't all write with the exquisite perfection of Bill Buckley, we should at least aspire to be legible. I'm happily part of your target audience because you write so well. Count me among the appreciative.