This is of course true… but it applies so much more in our lives than we probably think. Even before advertising and positions for decoding are needed, we have a more common use.
As internet communication picks up—MSN Messenger, Facebook, and Hotmail are among the most common—we have to create “internet communication” as a type of communication.
And texting, the practice now used by the majority of the upper-class world, has the same difficulty as does internet communication. You cannot detect emotion or levels of seriousness. But even before this, we have to write it.
When I think about it, our writing—as Message System 1—is so incredibly weak. Most people cannot write worth shit. I mean, seriously… it’s as if they’re not even trying to make Message System 1 decodable. This is all before Message System 2 is brought in by the recipient of the message to decode it! People lump about four thoughts into one line for the all too common run-on sentence… which are aggravating at best. When I talk to my best friend, a smart girl— who has graduated university with a MAJOR in English, and is now in teacher’s college—on MSN or through text, I am astounded by how little grammar there is.
(It is no coincidence that I am a part of a group called “I judge you when you use poor grammar” on Facebook.)
My friend says she just doesn’t care enough to bother with grammar if it’s not for a paper. You might be able to respect this, but c’mon!! Grammar should be second nature. And with how easily things can be misconstrued and taken the absolute WRONG way, I don’t think there is an excuse that works.
And she is not alone… most of my friends rarely use any grammar. It drives me nuts! I seriously wonder how two people with no grammar communicate with understanding. But now I do understand why people can get mad at one another: MISUNDERSTANDING from stupid messages. I also wonder if my friends have ANY education, but then I remember… OH YEAH, I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH THEM. So I hafta wonder, HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THROUGH NOT ONLY HIGH SCHOOL, BUT GRADE 5?
My next friend passed Grade 6, and her problem is not too deplorable, but it’s weak to say the least. Instead of putting a period or question mark, she puts in two spaces. !! Well, atleast she has a method.
But my other friends….. STUPET! Case and point… I went on Facebook, see one of my best friends is online. I say “how’s it goin?” and this is the response I get “good u u see the video on my profile”.
Ummm… it’s not even that you didn’t use a question mark. It’s that you have three thoughts crammed into one line. A hint might be that you used the same word— well, letter— twice in a row!
This is a societal problem… how do we even live with each other when we can barely write?
But to think simply, how do we write?
Herein lies the problem, I believe:
WE DON’T. The average person doesn’t have to write to make sense, so they don’t. Other than people like me who point out when my friends write something that’s stupid or that can easily be misinterpreted there’s no way for this pandemic to improve!!
(But by the way, since I, personally, have superior intellect, I have the ability to decode their piss-poor version of Message System 1 and construed it properly into Message System 2… but it ain’t easy),
Hall suggests three perspectives for decoding: Dominant, which means that you accept the sender’s code as the “correct” code, and decode the idea exactly as intended; Negotiated, which means that you accept the code privileged by the sender as the “correct” code, but you nonetheless make private adjustments to it and end up with a different message; and finally, Oppositional, which means that you reject the code as “incorrect” and decode the message using a code that is completely different from it that you privilege as “correct”.
But keep in mind, these are your friends!! Messages from them should not have to be decoded… if they’re your friends, you should use the dominant perspective! But with the way people speak on the internet and in text messages, at the least you have to use the negotiated perspective, just to understand what the hell they’re talking about!
And this, of course, is not what Hall intended by creating these positions, but it very well applies. Sometimes, you have to ‘adjust’ the “dominant” message provided in Message System 1—which in essence is negotiating it— just to understand it! That is unbelievable.
My solution?? Well, it isn’t gonna be easy. BUT TEACH THE KIDS HOW TO WRITE… and make sure they can at a reasonable level before they are promoted to the next grade. Our population is growing stupider… have some backbone and hold the child back if they can’t write.
One problem may be that their parents can’t write either, even when they are trying… well there are an influx of teachers out there now! Let’s make sure they can write well (I’m sorry best friend… but you gotta do better than that without an effort!).
The primary thing for people whom have graduated is: TAKE YOUR TIME while writing, and look at what you write (re-read) after and see if it makes sense. Have a critical eye too… if it can be misconstrued by your judgment, change it! Don’t be so stubborn or lazy.
But additionally, people should read the paper, read a magazine… hell, even read a book to ensure our writing doesn’t blow all to hell.
Lastly, have some pride in yourself and your abilities! If people took pride in not just writing well, but simply having it make sense, maybe we could end this pandemic.
(Maybe having people know that some people DO judge them for their writing will also help.)
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