So, as the title states, this was previously written. If you’re my friend on facebook, you may have seen it. I think it’s appropriate for my blog, considering the lengths of my posts, and still relevant in general. Enjoy!
I am a facebook picture junkie. It would do no good to deny that. I can spend hours looking at rage comics and pictures of puppies. The only way I can stomach political posts is if they come in concise picture format. I love looking at my pictures, and I love looking at yours. Chances are that if you are reading this, I’ve looked at your pictures dating back at least two years (if you have that many). I have no qualms whatsoever with my obsession. Not all pictures are funny, I always come across some that aren’t meant to make me giggle. That is fine by me. I’m fine with serious, sentimental, or educational pictures.
However, I will inevitably run across a picture that is totally serious, and I agree with its content, yet I struggle with whether to “like” or share it. Why? Because, sometimes I have a stick up my ass about grammar and spelling. I will let it slide often, but many times I won’t share or like something that has a misused “your” or “you’re.” I won’t accept the wrong “their,” “they’re,” or “there.” I’m not always so strict about it, but it’s always an internal struggle. I always have to stop and think, do I really wish to contribute to the mis-education of over 1000 people? Then, they would, of course, spread the virus to thousands more. It’s a difficult decision for me.
It isn’t my biggest issue, of course. I had a discussion earlier with a friend about vampires. I’m writing a book about that subject, and so I’ve created a survey to get some data. I figured that with all of my “friends,” I’d get a pretty good amount of information. Unfortunately, I’ve only gotten about five responses. Of the responses, though, I let the people answer in whatever format they chose. I figured, because I’ve done/seen surveys done so much, they’d do the logical thing and answer the questions right on the survey. But no, most of the responders sent only their answers. This, of course, meant that I had to go into the survey and retype their answers (because copy/paste changed the format of the file). While it isn’t a huge issue, I expressed to my friend my annoyance at this, as well as at the lack of responses in general. To which my friend, having not known before, asked why I was doing the survey in the first place, thinking it was a silly little questionnaire.
I explained about my book, and stated that I’ve put a lot of myself, my time, and my energy into this and all I asked was that people answered a few frickin’ questions. He responded with the natural assumption that if I’d just said that, people would take my survey more seriously. Here’s the kicker, I expressed its importance to me the very first time I posted it. In fact, I posted it in a note that STILL says that it is very important to me and that I put a lot of effort into it. It’s not like it’s expressed at the end of the survey, either, but right at the top in all caps. It’s insulting, because f a friend of mine asked me to fill something out for them, like a survey, because it meant a lot…I’d do it seriously and honestly because my friend said it was important to them. Most of my “friends” don’t even bother reading anything, though.
This lead to him stating: “I can see why, it’s just that the first time someone sees something like that they pretty much just go “too long, didn’t read” and come back to it when they have time, assuming they remember.” Um, NO. I cannot see why. “Tl;dr” is a depressing development in the way people communicate. It is lazy and disrespectful. A person puts their energy and time into creating something, to entertain or inform those who do read, not to hear that not only were you too lazy to read it but you have the gall to tell them so.
Furthermore, it’s come to my attention that people, in general, do not read anymore. People shouldn’t be impressed when they see me reading a novel just by the fact that I’m doing so. I learned from discussions and my survey that I may be the only person I know who has actually read Dracula. When I’ve asked individuals about a work of literature that has been made into a film, 95% of the time I get responses based on the film. Unless something is currently popular, such as The Hunger Games, many people won’t even know that something was created from a book.
It’s heartbreaking and very obvious these days. One can tell that someone isn’t a reader by their writing. It isn’t style or a few mistakes that tells me, it’s their facebook status. I cringe every time I see someone typing “lyk dis.” Is it really that difficult to spell a word out? It’s one thing to abbreviate, but if every status you posts shows that you stopped paying attention in the second grade, I feel sorry for you. I hate the excuse “it’s just facebook, no one cares.” Clearly, with all the posts to the contrary, someone does care. Add to that the fact that many employers have taken to looking at our profiles before deciding to hire us, and grammar becomes all the more important. Where is the respect for the king’s English?
It is even more disturbing to think that this laziness when it comes to reading and writing seems all too accepted by young African-Americans. I mean, our ancestors fought less than 200 years ago for the right to learn to read without fear of persecution. They fought for knowledge, and so many of our youth seem to have never picked up a book that wasn’t for school. They’ve never read more than what they could find in a grocery store magazine. They’ve never written a formal letter or anything that takes more than 160 characters. Being able to read anything you want is a privilege that many people don’t get in certain countries. It’s a privilege we should all be taking advantage of.
Yet, so many behave as if they’ve been insulted when someone corrects their grammar or spelling. They’re so very quick to cry foul and react offensively, instead of accepting that someone wants to help them. I would be glad if someone points out that I’ve misspelled a word, because then I’ve learned something. My family and friends used to get rather bothered because I corrected people a whole hell of a lot more than I do now. I never understood their annoyance, as in my mind, I thought I would love it if someone tells me the correct word or spelling. That way, I won’t make the mistake again and I’ve learned. When someone asks me how to spell something, I don’t gawk at them like they’ve stunned me. I tell them what they ask, and now they know.
I remember those commercials/segments that would give information, then a rainbow star comet would fly by with the words “The More You Know.” What happened to those days when it was good to know something? Where are the days when learning was beloved? Everything that has ever been written can teach something. It may not always be a good lesson, but often it is. At some point, in America, books were cherished treasures. Stories were loved by all. Parents read to their children, children read to their friends, people read because they enjoyed it. I hope that my love for reading and writing is inherited by my children, their children, and their children’s children. I hope that the babies being born in this new decade find their imaginations broadened, their curiosities peaked, and their joy increased by books the way I did.
You can be as creative as Walt Disney, but if you wish to share it, people have to be able to see it clearly; and that means the technical aspects have to be there just as much as the creative. Disney wouldn’t have gotten as large as it has if the engineers who created the shows didn’t know how to run the machines, if the book-binders didn’t know how to make a book that stayed together, if the animators didn’t know how to put together a sequence to make the characters appear to move. The greatest English writers of our time would not be known as they are if they didn’t know how to properly put words together and spell them in a way that English readers can understand. Language would be nowhere without the rules of grammar. We may as well all be grunting like cavemen without those rules. All I ask is that people don’t remain so lazy and uncaring, to consider that perhaps refusing to read something simply because of its length is foolish. We would not even have facebook, something so many people spend hours a day using, if not for those people who took the time to read.
Merci d’avoir lu, kittens! ^_^
Adieu, mon amis! ❤
-V
Voix de Wilder 