Say Something

Occasionally, out of either curiosity or boredom, I do a little searching on blogger. I look at some of the other blogs floating out there somewhere in cyber-space. I want to see what other people out there are saying. I want to know what other people are thinking. Sadly, these little forays into other people's worlds generally only serve to reinforce my belief that people are saying nothing. Whether or not people are thinking anything remains to be seen. The problem is not that people are not thinking. I refuse to believe there is a whole population walking around never thinking of anything interesting or useful to say. Although this is a tempting option - after all, I've studied people walking around Wal-Mart.

No, I am firmly convinced that the fault lies in communication. No one knows how to communicate effectively anymore. Here we are in the 21st century, in an era of unprecedented mass communication options, and we are faced with a society almost completely at a lack to know how to utilize it. Someone in Japan can send an e-mail which can be instantaneously received in Nebraska, and what is the great thought sent: "Make it loooong." That's it. We are now living in a time when we can talk to anyone at anytime, but we don't use it to express ourselves, or send great news around the globe. We waste it on inane, badly written blogs - like this one - or on almost unintelligible, chat room gibberish.

Just look at what has become of our written language. There was a time - not too horribly long ago - where almost everyone understood the basics of written language, and most people - of all classes - were capable of doing something as simple as writing a simple, soundly written letter. Now, thanks to such inventions as instant messenger, the people are losing these abilities. The English language is under assault. Spelling has been thrown out the window. In our rush to get things said, we have lost the ability to say things properly. It has somehow become obsolete to say things well. It is only important that the things get said, even if they are said inadequately. Look at the average language of instant messenger. Complex feelings which letter writers of the past took pains to express have been reduced to a series of inane abbreviations and - even more mortifying - to childish emoticons. For those lucky few who may not know what emoticons are, allow me to explain. Because it is so incredibly taxing to actually put your feelings into words, instant messenger and e-mail users can replace these tricky words with childish smiley or frowny faces. Not to put too fine a point on it, I hate emitcons. I detest those smiling faces. I am sure there must be some 12 year old out there who can't even spell happy, because he has always relied on some silly, reductionistic face.

Please, allow me to use an example to further my point. I watch a lot of The History Channel which relies heavily on the Ken Burns 'Civil War' style documentary. As you may know, these documentaries utilize actual letters written by people of the time period, such as from men in the front lines of the Civil War. These letters were generally not written by people of high education. They were not written by the great men of the era. They were written by men who were lucky to have finished grammar school. These letters were written by farmers and laborers who may not have had any of what we would consider formal education. Still, many of these letters are better written than many blogs written by college graduates of today - like me. Here's a fictional example of what these Civil War letters sound like:

"My Dearest Love, everyday the black gloom of war grows more thick and oppressive. Today was particularly taxing upon my soul. William, my truest friend and only respite from the horrors of this conflict, was shot through the heart in a skirmish. Now all my hopes rest with you. I pray ceaselessly that this war will end, and we will be able to rekindle the love which we held prior to this bloodshed. Your Loving Steven"

Notice how this, even in a short letter, actually utilizes language to express feelings. Notice how all the sentences more or less conform to the basic rules of grammar. And this is even a fictional example. I wrote that. If you actually take the time to find some of these letters, they will put this shabby example to shame. Sadly, I am too lazy to find an actual example for you. Now, Just for the sake of comparison let's take a look at what the same letter might look like today. Imagine it as a quick e-mail or instant message from someone named 'RebKiller69':

"hey, this sucks :( Bill died :( i mis u, can't wait to get home ;) ttyl"

I realize there may be people who read this and think to themselves, "So what? They both say the same thing. The second one even says it more efficiently." This is all wrong. All the emotion has been drained from the message. All the things which made the first specific and special has been replaced by generic smiley faces. The second one could have been written by anyone, while the first at least gives the sense of someone specific writing his own thoughts. This internet jargon has sapped our beautiful language of all its nuance and power. It is sloppy, lazy, and - most terrifying of all - dull.

So, all I am asking of you, dear reader, is that you join me in fighting against this encroaching menace. It is not hard. I'm not asking that you give up your instant messenger program or e-mail, but I am urging you to use them differently. Try having an entire instant messenger conversation in complete sentences without any abbreviations or emoticons. You may even want to use punctuation. I know that punctuation at some point stopped being cool. Even I find myself, when using instant messenger, avoiding punctuation. However, if you are like me, and want to reclaim our language from the internet manglers, it is a good place to start. I realize that this might mean that it may take precious extra seconds to write what you want, but, trust me, it's worth it. Which would you rather hear in response to a joke 'lol' or 'Wow, I just shot milk out of my nose'? Sure, the former is shorter, but the latter is most certainly sweeter.

Shalom (ttyl)