Grammar, Usage, Dogma, and Fanatic Intolerance

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Expressing oneself in proper English prose is imperative to becoming successful in an English speaking culture. The horrific reality of that statement pronounces a great insight into the character of English-speaking cultures; that English speaking societies severely judge the individuals of its community based on each individual’s education background in the field of Standard Written English. In Tense Present, David Foster Wallace gives several irrefutable points about the “seamy underbelly of United States Lexigraphy” and some very thought provoking insights to his own faulty perspective. One cannot ignore the unpleasant truth that Standard Written English is absolutely essential to being successful, but a dogmatic intolerance of those who are not quite as élite in their competency of Standard Written English is unnecessarily vile.

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it” (Flannery O’Conner). Wallace makes some excellent points that are practically irrefutable, though it would be idealistic if they were not. One point is that Standard Written English is necessary if you want an idea of your own to go beyond yourself. If an ill-equipped individual has an idea that they wish to spread, it would be quite rare for it to be taken seriously by any group of scholars. Many American intellectuals would immediately see multiple red flags of incompetency all over their “idea slate” and then immediately lose interest and respect for the idea. Just as Wallace said, there are plenty of other dialects that would be able to suffice just as well if not better; however, the target audience of any great idea is almost always somewhat of an elitist, so any other dialect used will be seen as a huge sign of incompeten...

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...groups, to clans, to communities, to religions, to countries, to races, and now it is fighting its way past dialects. The superb meme of universal empathy is slowly evolving and it is dogmatic people like “snoots” who are restricting the meme from propagating itself at a faster pace.

Obviously the solution is not for every intellectual to convert to Descriptionism, since that would propagate an exponentially expansive dictionary that would never end along with many other issues. Even more obviously, the solution is not for everyone to be Persciptionists for reasons that should not require further explanation. Democracy as the beautiful formula of moderation: to not be foolish by an incompetency of Standard Written English, and to not be antipathetic by means of a rancorous intolerance of those who are incompetent of Standard Written English, is the answer.

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