I'm starting to get really sick of this arch grammar policing. It is rife with ableism, classism and privilege - this shit will not do. Some of the most 'right-on' people I know indulge in this snobbery and it is embarrassing to watch.
I'm used to seeing the snide Internet twats do it, the sort that have to dump on everyone else to claw back a snippet of hollow pride. But not the people I thought were comrades to those who suffer. People who'd describe themselves as radical.
People who are even nominally and supposedly left-wing or compassionate do it. The non-hardcore-Internet community is starting to do it. It's becoming a 'thing' - a cultural trait: "Oh yeah, I just hate bad grammer, I just can't abide it, I'm like a GRAMMAR NAZI HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA". A bandwagon that every twunk is jumping on because it, like, makes them feel part of something or some shit.
Guess what, people! Some people can't spell and they don't know where apostrophes go. It's called dyslexia and it's called poor education and sometimes its called 'guess-what-grammar-marks-arent-my-priority-in-life'. Since when do we give people shit for that!?
Things being wrong are annoying. I get it. I shudder at poorly-placed apostrophes too. It kind of almost mentally hurts, even - a robotic twinge of "but-that-isnt-right-it-is-wrong-not-right-wrong-right-i-wrong-you-not....KABLAMMO".
I also understand that we are moving into this new cultural medium where the written word is hugely important. We have Youtube and animated things, etc. but the Internet is primarily text-driven. I understand that the evident communicacy of this medium is seminal - insert joke about the internet being mostly driven by porn. If you'd like.
Because you know that seminal has two meanings. You don't have to. I won't laugh at you if you don't happen to know that a relatively obscure word had two meanings. I only know it because I'm fortunate enough to have be sufficiently literate and educated because my family had the genetics, resources and the cultural imperative to encourage and make me so.
Moreover, I understand that the quality of the text displayed on the Internet can be really important because this is how we transmit information and we want to maintain a gold standard in our cultural resources. We can't have Wikipedia in lolspeak, after all.
And I understand that we need to show good examples to those around us so they also learn the conventional methods of spelling, grammar and punctuation so that we don't all splinter into odd internet patois.
However, what I do about this is work in education so that more people can benefit from what I know to be important.
What I don't do is take pictures of it and mock them in private - even when I want to. Did you see how I italicized that? It's because I want to show you that I made a choice in how I behave. Because I am fortunate enough to know better.
People do things wrong because they don't know better or because it seems logical to them. Do you think people want to highlight their illiteracy? Do you think people are proud of it or feel good about it?
If you actually care so friggin' much about it, how about you come and join me working at the college to teach learners how to (where even possible) take mastership of their learning through self-checking and by practicing their grammar, spelling and punctuation.
I mean it. Please, get a job in learning support. After all, you're the ones who are so fucking clever and educated and good at English, right? Please, enlighten the unfortunates.
For people who want to show themselves as having some kind of power or attentiveness or wonderful life or whatever the fuck the kick is that you get out of doing this stuff, you'd do well to attend to your own houses because your behaviour is letting yourself down.
Mocking the educationally left-out is not only cruel but vulgar too.
I expect better from you. You know better.
