I spend a fair amount of my time online - whether it's participating on forums or indulging in some harmless, if unproductive banter in chat rooms - and I've discovered that there is a memetic trend to write like shit; and be proud of it. It's a social demarcation line, more than likely linked to general intelligence; I'm certain that given the proper treatment, a scientific study could be conducted to verify this hypothesis. This wretched behavior is so prevalent and so obnoxious, it's even developed slogans - you've probably seen some of them, "Lol"; "Brb"; "Wtf"; etc.. What the fuck indeed.
There seems to be a general line of reasoning in defense of terrible and barely discernible communication skills. Apparently, the internet is not a place that you should be judged based on your writing skills, or in this case, the outrageous lack of.
I find this defense to be quite despicable and unbelievably naive.
Let's consider for a moment entering the workforce and what respectable employers look for in a prospective employee. It's a safe assumption that upstanding employers - I'm not going to consider fly-by-night assholes in this treatment of the issue - will require a few things of you; being well groomed (clean shaven, well trimmed hair, lack of facial piercings or tattoos and specifically no snot strings streaming down your face); being well dressed (clothes that actually fit your form, clothes that lack offensive imagery and or writing); being well spoken (sorry kids, Ebonics probably won't go over very well for jobs that pay over minimum wage). However, all of that aside, one of the most important factors that any employer will look at, is how well you write - the application is more than just a sheet of paper to list facts, it's also a resource for employers to determine general levels of intelligence; PC culture won't allow them to out-and-out say this, but you can bet your fucking ass that they do - and if you write like a mongoloid monkey, your application is likely going to take a fast trip to the trash bin.
Remember that the internet is an open circuit that anyone with an agenda to discover anything about you, easily can. We're in the age of Google my illiterate friends, and for every "r u realy worring about my grammer" complaint you spew forth, the Google eyeball will see it and retain it forever.
That's just one reason to shape up your writing skills.
Here's another. Forums, chat rooms etc., are places that the written language is a major form of communication, so there is a strong responsibility to at least be semi-literate, lest nobody understand a word you're saying. This is where the respect issue comes into play. I firmly believe that if you're communicating with me via the written language, you should at least have enough respect for me, as I do for you, to at the very least communicate your ideas legibly, whether your ideas make sense or not is a different issue entirely. It really is a respect issue, it's as simple as that. There are three groups that abuse this principle - those that really aren't able to communicate intelligently, those that are simply too lazy and those that don't write in or speak the native language of whomever it is they are communicating with - one group can be excused begrudgingly, the other group is downright contemptible and the last group is excused completely. It's you lazy fucking pricks that I find most deplorable. For example, it's not complicated or time consuming to add the extra "y" and "o" in "u". Determine which group you fall in, and adjust your dealings with me accordingly.
Fail to do that, and you can be certain that I will treat you as disrespectfully as you have treated me.
GWC
No comments:
Post a Comment