Please, stop insisting upon our insistence. And really, there's no need to insult those of us who don't find it easy to understand the particular complex language in question by implying (as I see it) that we're at the mental level and have the attitude to learning of, a particular set of 5th graders who are not bothered by learning. During the art degree I studied, and the foundation course before it, we had it pounded into our heads to question everything, and not accept things coming down from on high. Speaking for myself, on this list, I tend to express my views of things but neglect to mention that I don't necessarily believe these views are correct. These are my attempts to get clarification.
On 4/2/2009, "mark cooley" <[email protected]> wrote: >last words on this... > >i think there is an interesting point being made about whether one is >excluding an audience that they might otherwise want to reach - particularly >with works that speak of democratic values. however, it remains that complex >thoughts many times require complex language and what is complex to some is >simple to others. simple thoughts only need simple language. the insistence by >some that the language is meaningless or ought not be used at all is silly. >maybe there are some who write words for the sake of sounding smart, but i >think most of us gave that up in the 5th. grade. also, we have to look at >context. the writing was pretty standard academic language and i assume that >it was meant to be read by a group that is familiar with this language (i >think many on the list are). it's not being written for a 5th. grade class. > >it has always perplexed me that when it comes to art many people think that >there should not be complexity to the language associated with it. >specialization of language (like all kinds of specialization) has its problems >to be sure, but nearly all professions have a particular and quite complex >language that is not accessible to those uninvolved with the practice. i had a >plumber come over the other day to fix the toilet and i couldn't understand >what he was talking about. i'm not about to tell him that he is being >pretentious - it's my ignorance NOT his. why not just ask him to clarify for >YOU rather than criticize him for using the proper terms. > >i come across this all the time with students. if you give an essay to read >there will always be some that say it's stupid and the author is just trying >to look smart by using big words and long sentences. The fact is they are not >TRYING to look smart - they ARE smart. When one looks at other disciplines >it's easy to see. Pick up a medical journal and see how far you get before >your eyes glaze over. Would we insist that researchers and doctors abandon the >proper names for things to make their language more readable to those who are >untrained and illiterate in their disciplines. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
