Re: Formality is going bye-bye?

[John Garison <john -at- garisons -dot- com>]

Dumbing down is different than writing informally. Dumbing down is 
removing or obfuscating content/information, and pandering to the 
absolute lowest common denominator. That is not what Google is doing or 
what I am advocating.

<soapbox>
Dumbing down is also pandering to the politically correct and easily 
offended, neither of which am I advocating, and which, David, your 
school system seems to be practicing. I totally disagree with the 
approach that panders to self esteem by making everyone a winner and no 
one a loser.

Go read Kurt  Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" (collected in "Welcome to 
the Monkey House"), a story of a young boy blessed with the physical and 
mental prowess of a god who lives in a society that insists upon extreme 
equality for all its citizens. Vonnegut presents a scary view of a 
future society, where everyone is equal. "Nobody was smarter than 
anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was 
stronger or quicker than anybody else." It's the job of the agents of 
the United States Handicapper General to keep it this way. Beautiful 
people have to wear ugly masks. Graceful people had to wear handicap 
bags full of lead. Clever people had to wear a radio in their ear tuned 
to the government transmitter, which sent out sharp noises to keep 
people from taking advantage of their brains.
</soapbox>

I'm all for complete, accurate information, I just feel that the way 
it's presented should follow more of the 'spoonful of sugar' approach.

My 2¢,

John





Dubin, David wrote: