How To Create A Moral Panic: Ask A Question, Get Opinions, But Ignore Facts
from the neat-tricks-for-journalists dept
Well, here's a fun one. Despite study after study after study after study after study, all showing that various text messaging and "txt speak" hasn't harmed kids reading or writing skills in the slightest (and, in fact, kids today read and write significantly more than in the past), how would you go about creating a moral panic around the idea that the internet is harming kids language skills?It's easy.
- Ignore all the evidence.
- Send out a survey to parents asking them if they think the internet harms the ability of kids to write well
- Report the results of that survey of what parents think without actually backing it up with facts or evidence.
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Filed Under: moral panic, reporting, writing skills
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I don't believe it.
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No one remembers, but there didn't use to be words like nite or lite or thru. The Chicago Tribune decided it wanted to simplify spelling and there you go. Whole new words along with a new push to make English make more sense.
Purists still fight against the use of such words in formal writing, but when you get down to brass tacks, who writes formally these days?
If the kids use the words and sentence structures consistently, that's just language evolving, coming into contact with other languages. Russian doesn't have prepositions for God's sake. OMG is a minor offense in comparison.
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Yes, it is poor writing when submitted as formal writing. Language does evolve, and that is fine. For example, it is now often acceptable, even in formal writing, to end a sentence with a preposition. However, even with that evolution, there are accepted rules and standards for formal writing. What is okay differs between informal and formal contexts, or even between different formal contexts. It is the writer's job to ensure that they are writing appropriately for their audience. Cryptic, ambiguous, vowel-less abbreviations of words have no place in formal writing today, and it is unlikely they ever will.
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There still isn't, at least not in formal written language.
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Just because some people write in txt speak, does not mean that they would have had good spelling and grammar otherwise. That's would be a false assumption.
So, instead of seeing how the kids speak these days as an isolated world ... compare the levels of spelling & grammatical mistakes between all generations. I'm willing to put money on the fact that they will be comparable.
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I was always taught that if you didn't know how to spell a word, you looked it up in the dictionary. Of course, that's too much trouble for kids today.
I often use spellcheck if I'm not sure how to spell something.
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Re: Maybe there's a lot of retards at your Daughter HS
It's the same way with text speak. You know you have to write formally for a paper in English class but when texting on a phone you need to keep it short and sweet. So you use what really amounts to the old short hand they used to teach in secretarial school.
I found that people that can't seem to go from speaking slang to a formal "Work Speak" tend to be lower in IQ. Therefore people that can't go from text speak to formal writing must be as the kids say these days a "Dumb ass".
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Wrong Point
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Re: Wrong Point
In any case, I do not see how you arrived at that 99% number...I would venture to guess that you just pulled it out of your ass. Certainly, 99% of my texts do not occur in inappropriate situations, nor have I ever known somebody that did. And to flat out ban cell phones at work...well, I don't know what the job is, but I probably would not work there.
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Exactly the teacher is being paid to benefit ALL the students in the class. Do you know how irritating it is when you are an auditory learner trying to listen to a teacher and all you can hear are the clicks from someones phone as they text away on it under their desk? I, for one, am glad when teachers kick someone out of lecture for texting, and ban phones.
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Re: Wrong Point
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Re: Wrong Point
It's times like that that remind me I am not a good candidate for a conceal and carry license.
I disagree with banning cell phones in the work place depending on the work. Certainly not for personal use in the office, but some people need them for server alerts, customer contact etc. If you work retail, leave the phone in your pocket.
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no wai! ROFLMAO
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Of the dozen white folk dominated subcultures with their own slang (rockabilly, valley girl, southern, etc), you pick the derogatory term popularized by California politicians in the mid-90s as your "one word" example.
Your points of view in general are several diminished in reliability, because your "one word" says a lot more about you than it does the slang grouping you were referring to.
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"enough said".
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You're an idiot, and evidently a bigot.
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You're an idiot, and evidently a bigot.
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Re: You're an idiot, and evidently a bigot.
Satire doesn't work on the Internet because satire relies on tone and delivery. He put down three words, and I inferred a bunch from those three words in the context of the original post.
If you could explain to me how what he said is a joke or satire, I will concede your point. But I don't see it.
Perhaps his comments have been irritating me and I'm seeing things that aren't there in order to poke at him. But I still stand by my original interpretation until I see a compelling reason to think otherwise.
I'm from Virginia, Richmond to be exact, where ~64% of the population is black. I'm white, so I was a minority in my hometown. I see the pervasive racism because I know how it affected friends of mine in high school and their perceptions. Same with sexism with my large number of female friends. The only direct parallels I can draw on are my own experiences with being discriminated against and physically attacked by being white in a predominantly black area.
The only way to heal from the past and move forward isn't to ignore racism and pass laws to make people be tolerant, but try to stop the pervasive racism. Had someone read his comment, with its lack of clear satire, it would portray much more than you claim, reaffirming any stereotypes that black people can't speak proper English. Which is where the term "ebonics" came from. If you remember the Oakland school district's attempt to teach "ebonics" as a foreign language, it becomes very evident.
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Re: Re: You're an idiot, and evidently a bigot.
This will sound racist no matter how I write it, so here goes...
Sometimes stereotypes are true. Like the gay guy I met a few months ago who spoke with a noticeable lisp and who almost literally pranced around.
"Ebonics" is associated with black people because that form of slang is supposedly based on speech patterns that developed over the years. Where did it originally come from? From slaves who were never taught to speak proper English. So whether you want to call it "Ebonics", or "hip hop slang", it's still mangled English that originated from uneducated black slaves.
Sure, some white people use it. Why? They're copying the black people who use it.
If only I had a quarter for every time I've heard, "Lemme ax you sumptin..."
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Slang is slang, whatever. That isn't the point. The point is that even when pushed, many people in those communities are unable to communicate, write, or read standard english. It isn't a question of slang, it's a question of not knowing the language.
Australians use more slang than almost any group of english speakers in the world. But put on the spot, they can all speak, read, and write normal, standard english.
More important, and this is only where "hip hop culture" (is there such a thing?) causes a problem is when today's youth (from all groups) emulates the lifestyle and the speech, lowering their own language skills to be "down widda hood". Illiteracy is a real issue that can hold people back. The inability to communicate clearly is a problem that can cost jobs and a future.
As mentioned by BTR1701, Ebonics is the politically correct non-derogatory term accepted without issue. The only racism is in your own mind on that one.
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Ebonics is a politically correct (because the politicians said so) but socially incorrect word, because it ascribes that black people don't speak English. I mean "EBONics" ... "EBONY" ... the racist message is built into the word itself. Not to mention the socially incorrectness of "African-American" (which you didn't use, but it illustrates the point that just because "European-American" politicians say they're being correct doesn't make it so).
So, I guess what you're implying by the Australian comment:
1. The black people that speak slang can't use proper English
& 2. All Australians speak slang and can use proper English
It's great that everybody fits into these nice categories, with no exceptions, isn't it?
The fact that you literally used the phrase "all Australians" without even acknowledging the possibility of exception shows your categorization of the world where all people fit into discreet groups that you can ascribe attributes to. That's how stereotypes & -isms grow, by taking generalizations and applying them to everyone of a social group or particular members with disregard for the individual. Racism/sexism/xenophobia will only end when people stop doing that, and judge each person on his/her own merits.
"Ebonics" is a word that refers to slang used by a particular racial group, and not a cultural one (as white people in the hip hop community use "ebonics", too). Otherwise, it wouldn't have a synonym for "black" as the root word. Nobody has ever referred to slang used by white people as "ivorics". If it's slang used by a white person, it gets the name of the subculture group that uses it ... if it's slang used by black people, it's "ebonics" or "black language" if you want to defined the root & suffix meanings. That's why I use the term hip-hop community, because that's the subculture group that uses it.
I guess what got to me was your use of a word that refers to a race, and not a culture.
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The racism for the most part is in your mind, kind of like what happens to Al Sharpton every so often.
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Re: Re: Ebonics
> by California politicians
The California politicians who were promoting it were black themselves and certainly didn't consider it to be derogatory or racist.
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Re: Re: Re: Ebonics
Though, politicians are politicians and don't usually think about what they're saying.
So, I accept that SOME black politicians did not find it offensive, but I stand by the idea that a majority of the people in the area did. And even people in Virginia weren't too happy about the implications of what the Oakland school board was saying and trying to do.
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coming from the guy named after a character from fat albert.
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If you can explain how that's ironic, with it being put on the Internet without tone & delivery to indicate it's irony, then I will concede it was a joke and not serious. Irony needs a cue, and that didn't have one.
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ban cell phones at work
but then there are jobs where a cellphone is so important, that your work pays for a $400 black-berry and let you use it as your personal phone also.
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Then there is that whole problem of, "who cares?" Languages change and evolve over time. It's not like there is one static way of doing things;
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Its just short hand....
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Penmanship anyone?
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Hell in a hand basket
Hell in a Handbasket
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Kids Today
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^like the study after study after study up there which solidifies the point that [i]texting doesn't hurt your grammar, stop saying it does[/i].
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1. Be alerted and concerned about a new technology that's introduced in society
2. Question health risks and childhood safety because society is changing
3. Spread panic as long as possible until people get used to it
Remember how cell phones were all going to give us brain cancer in the early 90s? Same thing. Remember how MySpace was going to be the master tool for sexual predators? Same thing.
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Moral panics are ALWAYS...
And saying it's "...for the chiiiildren" is despicably misleading.
Remember when we hade to outlaw marijuana because it's a pernicious drug that has the horrible side effect of causing otherwise law-abiding young people to be thrown in jail?
That kind of thing.
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U guys are fucked
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