If there is a single hallmark of this time in history, it’s gotta be terrible writing. I read so many examples each day that I’m starting to think it might be contagious. The supremely shitty metaphors bug me, as does the awful punctuation — lists where each item is denoted by a period. Man, that irritates me.
I feel like when I was a teenager — and even newly an adult, folks had some sense of decorum or modesty or shame or whatever. Well, that is clearly out the window. Part of me is like, “Chill, gramps — let people be.” But then another part of me is like, “[adult] Folks gotta grow up and stop being so identical.” I think it’s the sameness that grates on my nerves. Like folks could be however they want, but they have coalesced in sameness. And, from what I have seen, you really can’t blame computers. Once again, people have brought offline culture online, and then others have seen it and taken that offline somewhere else. So now, basically all of modernity is monochrome. That is some sad shit.
I tend to think that human brains are extremely powerful but quite often get programmed and/or incentivized to be less powerful. Many people live their entire lives without realizing they’re far more capable than they think, which is probably part of why so much writing sucks (and I do mean suuuuuucks).
Maybe I shouldn’t have even titled this “Crumby Writing.” Although bad writing is certainly involved, it’s a symptom, not the root problem. Yet, writing is very central to the problem, as it is basically a direct path to peoples’ brains. That really highlights how important quality is to writing, yet folks are relentlessly employing manipulation strategies rather than seeking to communicate clearly. I suppose I should be thankful I am bothered by it, cuz that means I notice it. The fact that salespeople use it so often suggests it works which suggests many buyers do not notice it. That suggests I really gotta figure out how to get a bigger readership!