It is doubleplus good to unthink dinner!

[Theory5]

It is 1984, and three totalitarian governments have taken over the world, controlling their respective populations lives right down to the minuet, what they do in their own homes.

They are even revising human speech, dumbing it down, taking away everything except the basics, removing any way of conveying certain thoughts such as freedom.

 

But that is all fiction. Today is October 20th 2009 and no totalitarian government has taken over most of the world, everybody in America is living in relative freedom, happily oblivious to anything but their own needs and desires... as well as what any given celebrity is doing at any given moment.

However a shortening of vocabulary is occurring, maybe not at any great rate, in fact, its at such a slow rate that few people even realize it is happening.

Let me give you a little marketing background to get people on the same page. This is basic, nothing more.

Commercials are designed to appeal to a certain demographic group, depending on the product. It is true the majority of companies don't have commercials, some just take ads out in local papers and such. But in each of these demographic group there is what is known as the Lowest Common Denominator. Yes, the kid who sat in the back of the classroom blowing snot bubbles in third grade is now the Lowest Common Denominator, lets just call it the L.C.D. for short. In every group there is at least one person who needs everything dumbed down and explained to him/her in the simplest terms. But depending on different demographics that could mean different things. For example, the dumbest guy who subscribes to Popular Mechanics might still be able to take a car apart seven different ways, and put it back together without missing a piece. Thus the use of jargon relating to that ad.

But when you are trying to appeal to everybody in America who likes chicken and biscuits, the L.C.D. tends to be a little slower than the average person.

Now, as the intelligence level of the population drops, the L.C.D. drops too, because keep in mind there is a new one born every ten seconds and they are the bottom of the well. ( I mean that as they are born, in time they reach a new standard of low, not that the newest baby is the dumbest).

I would say that the intelligence level has dropped from "Average Guy" to "Mentally Retarded" but that would be an insult to everybody who is actually mentally challenged, and some of the world's greatest intellectuals have had setbacks in mental facilities (i.e. Albert Einstein had dyslexia).

Now back on track, from my title and either visiting one of these establishments or watching TV for a time period of about 5-10 minutes, you know I am referring to KFC:Kentucky Fried Chicken. The first time I saw one of those ads I was shocked, well, not too shocked because i know where America is headed, but it was still shocking.

Their new slogan is " Unthink dinner with Kentucky Grilled Chicken!" I half expected them to use other terms from the book 1984's newspeak.

Has it really come down to such a low point where modifiers like "un" have to be used to replace a whole range of words that could be used to describe the situation more

accurately? Sooner or later America will be dumbing its language down ON ITS OWN! Ever seen Idiocracy? Just like that. Already people are starting to dumb down their sentences, and the newspapers have been writing at a seventh grade reading level since somebody figured out what was happening, and how to make more papers sell. This disturbs me greatly, America!

We are on a way to destroying ourselves out of neglect for anything but what we care about, which isnt much. We need to use real language, string together real sentences, with verbs and nouns and adjictives, not just two or three words that cover everything, namely "gay" "****" and "****". I will try to do my part, who is willing to help piece America back together with our bare hands, our will, and our mental strength?

Go out there, pick up your dictionary, and dialog these people into submission with your words that are over three syllables long!!

[sman]

It is 1984, and three totalitarian.....

 

"Men are infinitely malleable, Winson!" Would that they were - society might've evolved into something like an ant colony by now. Turns out, men are infinitely stubborn and resilient (an assertion I'm sure my wife would redily reaffirm). Any real-life legislation that even slightly rubs agaist the grain of human nature quickly crashes in flames. Egalitarian Oligarchys never left the runway. Thank god! I'm happy to meet a fellow fan of the classic, though.

 

However a shortening of vocabulary is occurring, maybe not at any great rate, in fact, its at such a slow rate that few people even realize it is happening.

 

Your post reminds me of the rants through the ages about the decimation and degredation of the language and, by association, intelligence in general, by younger generations of speakers. You're in fine company here: August Schleicher, George Bernard Shaw, Johnathan Swift...as well as our friend George Orwell. If fact, every generation has the same complaint about the upcoming generation, and yet, for some reason, we are not today reduced to monosyllabic ululation.

 

Now, as the intelligence level of the population drops....

 

I'm not seeing this happen, though I understand what you mean. Piece together all the aspects of our modern environment, consumerism et al, and it seems like intelligence will get the short end of the stick. For some reason though, it seems to be alive and kicking. Here's a hopeful thought for you to think: intelligence is sexy. I have a feeling that the enigmatic and erratic sexual selection, that Darwin dedicated an entire book to, has had alot to do with the observation that we are already much more intelligent than it seems an east African savanna would merit on it's own.

[Theory5]

"Men are infinitely malleable, Winson!" Would that they were - society might've evolved into something like an ant colony by now. Turns out, men are infinitely stubborn and resilient (an assertion I'm sure my wife would redily reaffirm). Any real-life legislation that even slightly rubs agaist the grain of human nature quickly crashes in flames. Egalitarian Oligarchys never left the runway. Thank god! I'm happy to meet a fellow fan of the classic, though.

I find it interesting that you happen to compare totalitarian governments to ant colonies. But while totalitarian governments never took off, Corporate infrastructure has. This is a little different from an ant colony, but it has many of the same aspects. There is a strict hierarchy that is not breached without consequences. While the workers do harvest the food (or w/e the company is selling) they get a very little share of their harvests, even though they work the longest and hardest. The workers are basically sacrificial, there is always more to be hired.

And people allow this, as well as other forms of control and exploitation. Companies control the people, either because the people work for them, or the companies have enough money to influence politician's decisions.

 

Your post reminds me of the rants through the ages about the decimation and degredation of the language and, by association, intelligence in general, by younger generations of speakers. You're in fine company here: August Schleicher, George Bernard Shaw, Johnathan Swift...as well as our friend George Orwell. If fact, every generation has the same complaint about the upcoming generation, and yet, for some reason, we are not today reduced to monosyllabic ululation.

Yo, dawg, like, take a look around at all the mad **** that's going down, its like totally gay.

:-P

I doubt the human language will ever be broken down into monosyllables but it seems to be getting close. More and more words are replaced by simplified and more explicit words, and they are now used in practically every sentence, to describe a huge variety of objects, places, actions, and emotions. And if that is bad enough my generation is only interested in sound bites, on and more alarmingly, off the internet. I can understand abbreviating words and simple phrases if you have a time or text constraint like in a game or mobile texting, but its now in email, and instant messaging and even speech.

 

I'm not seeing this happen, though I understand what you mean. Piece together all the aspects of our modern environment, consumerism et al, and it seems like intelligence will get the short end of the stick. For some reason though, it seems to be alive and kicking. Here's a hopeful thought for you to think: intelligence is sexy. I have a feeling that the enigmatic and erratic sexual selection, that Darwin dedicated an entire book to, has had alot to do with the observation that we are already much more intelligent than it seems an east African savanna would merit on it's own.

 

i know what you are saying, but I wonder, does natural selection apply to us anymore? Natural selection is a way for a species to continue to prosper by having the best physical traits, the best survival instincts and such. But now other factors enter the equations, such as intellegence and some people even factor in money and assets :-(

And it is debatable whether intellegence is a deciding factor at all.

[Qfwfq]

Today is October 20th 2009 and no totalitarian government has taken over most of the world, everybody in America is living in relative freedom, happily oblivious to anything but their own needs and desires... as well as what any given celebrity is doing at any given moment.

However a shortening of vocabulary is occurring, maybe not at any great rate, in fact, its at such a slow rate that few people even realize it is happening.

Do you think it's happening only in America? ;)

 

In Nineteen Eightyfour it was top-down, in Fahrenheit 451 it started bottom-up but was exploited and enforced (chicken and egg) to set up a regime by making democracy a glaring farce. This is what the tycoons have been doing. Media is power.

[Theory5]

Do you think it's happening only in America? ;)

 

In Nineteen Eightyfour it was top-down, in Fahrenheit 451 it started bottom-up but was exploited and enforced (chicken and egg) to set up a regime by making democracy a glaring farce. This is what the tycoons have been doing. Media is power.

 

Chicken and egg? What does that mean? Unless you are refering to the question which came first, and you are using that to say one cannot happen without the other.

The USA really isnt that democratic anymore, the government has more power than the people for some reason, which shouldn't have happened at all.

Haha, if media is power, than fox is a 40-watt bulb :-P

On a more serious note, you are completely correct, media is power, and the mainstream is run by a handful of conservatives only putting out what they want to cover, not what is actually happening.

But it is not entirely their doing. People don't want informative news, they want ten second sound bites, presented in an entertaining fashion, that doesn't make them think too hard.

To get decent news i have to go to bbc.com!

 

so what can we do to change the way the country, no, the world, is heading?

[Qfwfq]

Chicken and egg? What does that mean?

It was a quick way to say that enforcing it allows exploiting it all the more, which allows enforcing it all the more and of course this always happens. Today it has become worse with the help of mass media being controlled by tycoons. The 20th century regimes went through it but over here it is a newer problem, folks don't see the media as being a threat.

 

The USA really isnt that democratic anymore, the government has more power than the people for some reason, which shouldn't have happened at all.

Exactly as you then proceed to say, the people are letting it happen.

 

so what can we do to change the way the country, no, the world, is heading?

You can hope that bbc.com doesn't go the same way! Follow whatever news sources you find reasonable and call the attention of your acquaintances to news you find relevant. See who still has their wits about them and help them out of the dark. Don't insist with those already hopelessly lost, it's a lost battle, it's more important for those who still can to wake up. The difficult thing is to avoid it winding up just replacing the tycoons with Stalinists or whoever else; it isn't a good idea to make it a battle against the Conservatives, or against the Whigs, the Blues or the Buffs.

[Theory5]

You can hope that bbc.com doesn't go the same way! Follow whatever news sources you find reasonable and call the attention of your acquaintances to news you find relevant. See who still has their wits about them and help them out of the dark.

 

Most of the people I hang out with now don't exactly follow my views, to put it mildly. The rest don't care about the news or what is happening in the world.

According to my friend Brown University has all the liberals, and thus I am in the wrong school (I go to Johnson & Whales University). But he is one of those people who tends to refer to free thinkers and people who like to help others as either liberals, or the people who live in "dreamland". :)

 

Don't insist with those already hopelessly lost, it's a lost battle, it's more important for those who still can to wake up. The difficult thing is to avoid it winding up just replacing the tycoons with Stalinist's or whoever else; it isn't a good idea to make it a battle against the Conservatives, or against the Whigs, the Blues or the Buffs.

 

Whigs, blues, buffs? I'm not familiar with those terms either.

I'm not trying to put the blame on one person, party, or source. That happens to much already, and that encourages bickering, and even more finger pointing. All the parties act like children, pointing fingers, slandering others, and generally not getting anywhere.

I mentioned conservatives because looking at a lot of the mainstream news sources, they seem to be calling the shots. For instance, fox failed to cover a huge gay rights march a while back, and instead they did a story on a protest against a school that happened a couple days before, they showed footage of where the protest was held, but they didn't have actual footage of it, just the spot and they timed it to run while the march was happening.

Thats just an example. There have been other such things like that. Mostly it seems to have a conservative spin on most of it. But then there is what I call "default stories". Stories that the news reverts to when it is a slow news day. They used to just report on community happenings, but they seemed to have changed. Stuff such as swine flu is a gold mine for them because they can make it seem like a huge pandemic, and get a lot of ratings.

 

I dont think we have to worry about replacing the tycoons just yet. We need to educate the masses first then we can worry about replacing the big tycoons.

[lemit]

Theory5,

 

I have taught writing. I have edited several books. I have written for newspapers. I have written and edited advertising, promotional, educational, bibliographical, and technical materials.

 

It is as a teacher that I must tell you your original post is very poorly written. Unless you are using yourself as an example of how our language has declined, you should not complain.

 

Also, eloquence does not come from the length of the words. It comes from the way they are strung together and even more from the ideas that inform them. Once you have become really good at the small words, then you can work on the big ones.

 

--lemit

[Qfwfq]

I agree it's the conservatives... wait, heck, the neo-conservatives, that are getting their turn at the moment. For the Whigs, read a bit of history. For the Blues and the Buffs read Dickens.

 

That happens to much already, and that encourages bickering, and even more finger pointing.

There's an obvious reason for this. It is a contention of power. But I notice how you go on to say:

I dont think we have to worry about replacing the tycoons just yet. We need to educate the masses first then we can worry about replacing the big tycoons.

which has its own faint hue to it. We need to educate the masses? Hmmmm, I think Lenin said that kind of thing. He sure controlledt the media, only it wasn't as powerful as today's.

 

Talking about democracy, we are talking about the people. We want it to be of the modern type, with universal suffrage (this wasn't always so, in the history of democracies). The real problem, currently, is that the idiots are the majority of the people. To say educate them smacks of indoctrination, I prefer an awakening. The trouble is that even when one goes to vote there is less and less actual choice, just as in Bradbury's famous novel. Why? This too is chicken-and egg; diminishing quality of choice goes hand in hand with the prevalence of the idiots.

 

Considering that you did not know who I meant by the Whigs, I'll add that the word idiot comes from a Greek word for private and originally meant one who is totally uninvolved in public matters.