Let me get this straight. So a person who chooses the president you don’t agree with is an idiot, right? How about the one who likes the celebrity or that professional sports team you’re not a fan of? Idiots, too? What about those people who have their own opinions in general? Such “idiots,” correct? Yet, if you rant about how much of a “moron” someone is, spelling half the words wrong and using improper grammar is okay. Even though the grammar is 2nd grade-level and the words are ones we learned in elementary school as well, THAT’S acceptable, right? Not a big deal? Of course it isn’t.
It’s bad enough that some adults behave like clowns online anyway, especially since they know they have the protection of a computer screen and hundreds of miles of distance between them and the person they’re so maturely insulting and that’s only when they KNOW where that other person is, which most of the time, they don’t. Many are too cowardly to even use their names, proving that they’d never say these things to someone else’s face. If you just said, “That’s not me. I’ll put my real name on here,” and you feel that makes hurling insults better or that you’re NOT a coward, you’re right. You’re not just a coward, but you’re an idiot, too.
Words are all we have when we’re online. No gestures, no facial expressions, no voice inflections. Just the words. ALL CAPS is sometimes viewed as “shouting,” but most of the time, that’s just because a person either doesn’t know how to use the SHIFT key or is too lazy to turn off the CAPS LOCK. Most of the time, I just view it as a tantrum anyway, so it doesn’t help either way. The point is, any message you’re trying to get across can only be sent through your words. So it’s in your best interest to make sure your words are spelled correctly and your grammar is straight. It’s really not that hard. Especially if you’re going to call someone else “idiot” or “moron.”
I know…typos. The phone acted up. Your fingers are too big. There’s ALWAYS an excuse. There is a difference between a typo here and there and not knowing how to use proper grammar or spelling words incorrectly. We’re not even talking SAT words or those words that are used in national spelling bees. SIMPLE words. Not knowing the difference between “your” and “you’re,” or “there,” “their,” and “they’re.” Those are actually the ones I can almost tolerate. Almost. Whatever the excuse, the bottom line is that the only REAL reason is that the person doesn’t know how to spell those words.
I can respect those who can say they’re not good spellers. Many times, those aren’t the ones you’d see calling someone online an “idiot” anyway. It’s those who run off at the mouth so much and they figure people aren’t paying attention. After they’re called out, then they get offended and say how it’s not necessary to spell words correctly or use proper grammar because they’re “not writing an English paper” or that they “not English majors,” or that we are all “Grammar Nazis” and a whole bunch of other nonsense that’s basically to cover up the fact that they can’t spell and don’t know how to write BASIC sentences. Give me a break.
If that’s too theoretical to accept, then think of it like this: Imagine a homeless person in dirty, rancid rags approaching you on the street and telling you that your clothes look like garbage. Imagine a person in a car that’s barely running pulling up next to you at a red light and saying that your car looks ugly. You probably wouldn’t accept that, right? I’m already NOT insulted by being called an “idiot” by some stranger online just because our opinions don’t match. It’s worse for that person if they can’t even put together a complete sentence without mistakes as they’re doing it.
Of course, this blog post is not likely to change anyone’s mind. In fact, people will probably see this and put even LESS effort into making their posts presentable, as though it’s teaching me and all other sticklers of spelling and grammar some sort of lesson. All it does it make it easier to pick apart your post(s) and/or dismiss it. That’ll hurt your feelings LONG before it hurts ours. Usually that’s clear with the very NEXT comment posted.
People's Court 