The social rank of language in these here united states

[substitute]

1. Senior managers take pride in their inability to write clearly; it shows that they do not have to do work.
   
   
2. Reading, like religion, is now an activity reserved for children, women, and the old. Men in their prime do not read books.
   
   
3. People who speak in complete sentences or, worse, entire paragraphs are labeled as "foreign", "possibly homosexual" (if male), or "stuck up".
   
   
4. People who do not read well or speak clearly, but are either wealthy or very religious, are regarded as being wiser than writers or readers.
   
   
5. Poetry has been dead for almost 100 years.
   
   
6. Short short stories, vignettes, and blogs are the largest pieces of text that anyone under 50 wants to consume.
   
   
7. Dialogue in film has been replaced with sound effects.
   
   
8. Inarticulate illiteracy is mistaken for sincerity.
   

Comments

[gutbloom.livejournal.com]

I think you're right.

[sachmet.livejournal.com]

This confirms my observation that pretty much every MBA out there can't write worth shit.

[(Anonymous)]

Ooh! Ooh! And well thought out discourse on the current state of literacy in our culture is reduced to a numbered list. Paragraphs are for sissies.

; )

Hey, let's face it:

[nosrialleon.livejournal.com]

It's the 21st century. I don't have time to read about reading. Just collapse it to bullet points; I got stuff to do here.

executive summary

[substitute.livejournal.com]

• shit sucks

[verminefasciste.livejournal.com]

ha, ha. pwn3d. ;)

[substitute.livejournal.com]

So are anonymous comments!

[nickjb.livejournal.com]

and it gets worse every day

[vegemitelover.livejournal.com]

I think you should start secretly replacing the contents of the DVD and VHS cases at the library with printed material.

Since half the children's movies are being watched on the Escelaaade flat screen before they even leave the parking lot, we know our plot wouldn't last very long. Other forms of trickery myst be used I guess.

Maybe we could replace the contents of an audiobook with audio-instructions on how to read. Hey.. that's a good idea! Maybe I can find one to help me with my run-on sentances and overuse of multiple periods.

[nefas.livejournal.com]

do you really think poetry has been dead for almost 100 years? who is it that you consider the last poet(s)?

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Not that poets haven't been making poetry, but that poetry as something the public consumes is dead. It's the audience that left, not the poets!

[nefas.livejournal.com]

ohhh. some of us still like it! sometimes i ask various men i know if they like poetry, and they usually respond in the negative. i'll email them something that i think is good and usually get a decent response from them. some of them seem to be under the impression that the only things poetry can be about are love and roses. i don't know why that is.

and of course, i made a poetry community for the really crappy stuff. badpoetry *smirk*

I have it all

[trinnit.livejournal.com]

I read the sound effects.