- Joined
- Aug 1, 2006
- Messages
- 10,878
- Reaction score
- 5,343
oh.my.gosh. I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now for my Intro to Critical Theory in Lit and you aren't helping me be serious enough to approach it. Mock on! Live free! LOL.A well meaning post, Cassiopeia, but we should see this in the broader context.
There are so few opportunities these days to mock people, so many ways in which mockery is prohibited, that we should use the few remaining acceptable ones while we still can. Just this morning I mocked a lorry driver for poor driving at a roundabout. I'm not stupid, I did it quietly, within the confines of my car, but mocked him not only for his lack of education, but for his questionable parentage, too. I will continue to defend my right to do so.
People who can't spell correctly are winkers.
Cheers,
Rob
I think because of the late hour in which I posted that perhaps I haven't made myself as clear on this subject as I could have.Cassi, Dear you are too nice I think in this situation. I disagree. Public school is not only available to everyone in this country, it is a law that children attend. SO I don't buy the opportunity or lack of it argument. How much more must we level the playing field? We've already leveled it to the point that we bring down the students who are bright and/or care and try. LEveling it doesn't raise standards, it lowers them. Children rise the the expectations given to them. We should have high expectations. SO I have to diagree.
But first, let me address this business about public education. Yes it's is available to all and is the law. That doesn't mean that everyone's parents makes sure they go and some even prevent it. Some think they can home school their children when they actually aren't qualified to, though many can and others just don't agree with the government telling them what to do so they refuse to send their children or some are actually pulled out of school to go to work so their family can eat while slovenly lazy arsed parents sit at home drinking or doing drugs or even have other issues not of their own making.
There are people outside the scope of what we are talking about. Some who's culture is so strong it prohibits them until they older from breaking free.
I spent an entire month on a group project for a technical writing class and created an entire website dedicated to the issue of Aliteracy. For those unfamiliar with this term, it's those who are illiterate by choice. And they aren't just street kids or wannabe gangstas who do this. There's an entire industry dedicated to making user manuals with pictures only because we are too freaking lazy as a society to read them.
So, just so I'm clear...I'm not talking about any leveling of anything actually. I do have expectations of our educational system and society. I have high standards in fact. By all means someone wants to take a stand by not frequenting a business because it uses a quirky way to spell something, go right on ahead but being a "snob" isn't changing the problem. And that is what I am on about. That's being an elitist but not the right kind.
Snobs are ineffective in their approach. If there is indeed an approach other than to place themselves above others so they can sit and feel smug. So Sassy, I hardly think you are a snob.
PLEASE NOTE: The following is not directed at any one person. You is in the general term.
What I am talking about and yes, I was being too nice...is that I am sick and tired of people who have nothing better to do than point out the faults of others so they can feel better about themselves. They offer no viable solution to the problem they just want to bitch about how they are so much more grammatically correct, literate or smarter than someone else. AND they make no bones about doing it in a humiliating way so the other person is left feeling like shit.
Mocking others, is not an effective way to change anything. It is counterproductive and counter intuitive. If we are so intelligent then certainly we have the means to express our concerns without putting others down.
Hell yes! Let's hold the front lines for grammar accuracy and literacy. Let's keep those standards high. But let's make it appealing to be this way.
And let's be honest with ourselves, to what end do we make fun of others? What purpose does it serve? I can tell you from personal experience that the minute someone uses that condescending tone with me and I've watched the same reaction in others, it doesn't matter one bit if they might be right, I disregard them as complete and ignorant snobs with their heads so far up their ass they can't see the light of day.
Here's a little tidbit from Organization Communications 1010: It isn't what you say, it's how you say it that determines what message actually gets received. Want to be heard, present your message in a non offensive way and people listen. Make it exciting and interesting and you engage them. Offend them and they will never listen to you again because the minute you make it a personal attack, YOU lose credibility.
After all, literate people are meant to be articulate and capable of presenting their ideas without resorting to the demeaning and degradation of others.