facade

07-31-2011, 04:57 AM

this is an essay i wrote a couple years ago for my grade 12 english class granted this is before i did proper citation i really like this essay and want other peoples opinions on it...

December 15, 2009
Façade
The English language is a fundamental point of communication; in most countries, of modern society, schools teach English as the secondary language for the nation. With the wide spread of the language comes a simplicity of meaning and manipulation of vocabulary. The correct use of the language is something that most people take and have taken for granted almost as long as the language itself has been in history. The language itself has been circulation since the middle of the fifth century approximately, and has been simplifying itself ever since. Society has gotten lazier ever since education has been available, with more people having access to the language people have been able to manipulate it. Modern day society is declining due to this facade of communication. By dictionary definition, a facade is a superficial appearance or illusion of something and that is exactly all the English language has become: a facade of communication.
North America is suppose to be the most advanced part of the world, it is economically more secure than other countries and has a top rated educational system that other countries even take part in. With such a high standing should not the language of the nation be as promising?
“Most agree that literacy is a major problem in today's world. Indeed, it is near the top of the policy agenda of most countries in the world - including both industrialized and developing countries. According to UNESCO statistics, almost a billion illiterates remain as we approach the
year 2000, and the prognosis for a major reduction in many countries is not very optimistic. Furthermore, the relatively low rates of illiteracy in industrialized countries are misleading, as countries like the United States begin to realize that low levels of literacy can be just as troubling, and sometimes more difficult to deal with, than illiteracy in some developing countries.” (International Literacy Explorer)
The illiteracy rates of Canada and the United States are often a facade. North America has lower illiteracy rates than most other nations that fact remains true, but the complication falls in the fact that North America’s literacy rates are low. People have some comprehension of the language, reading, and writing: but the fact is that the level of in depth comprehension and adequate reading levels are not present.
“Over one-quarter of Canadian students, and nearly 40% of US students had scores at level 2 or lower. These graphs show that in both countries there are youth at all levels of SES with reading performance at these low levels. Although there is a disproportionate number of poor readers among low SES students, there is a substantial number of poor readers from average and high SES families.” (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada)
The North American government is very good at manipulation facts to make it seem as though things are really better than they are. The English language is declining and the government is sending out propaganda saying how great the North American school system is. Language is being misused not because people having declining IQ’s but rather by fault of the government pretending that the low reading levels are nothing to worry about and therefore not have no effect on North America.
Communication in media today is atrocious and effecting the vocabulary of the younger generation. Youth are subjected to different forms of media daily; each medium slowly taking affect against modern society. Two main mediums that play an important role in shaping the vocabulary of the younger generation are music and the internet. Singer/songwriter Emilie Autumn is quoted on the outtakes for her album "Opheliac" saying, "the art of suicide ankles displayed melodramatically lain...can you remember the last time you heard a song with the word 'ankles' in it? I. Cannot. Think. Of. One!" (Emilie Autumn) Trying to find another song out there with a reference to the word ankles in it is nearly impossible if the source of your search is the music medium of modern society. The outtake of a simple word such as "ankles" in music today clearly alludes to the direction all communication is soon to face. When words are eliminated in media youth, respond with forgetting about the word in their own vocabulary. Alas - Music is not the only corporate of "lazy vocabulary"; the internet plays a huge role. Internet is incorporated in the average life of a North American Teenager at some time or another, and at some time, most teenagers will partially quote a curious saying. "Smile like nothing is wrong, dance like no one is watching, and love like you've never been hurt." (Unknown) If a saying such as the one above even partially makes, its way into conversation most times the speaker is unaware of the significance behind each of the statements. Deceive everyone and do what you wish is primarily the point of this odd saying, but if one can "smile like nothing is wrong" could that individual then not forget like there is nothing worth remembering? Language is a fundamental point in communication, when things are excluded or forgotten from the language it makes forgetting communication in entirety quite easy to follow after.
Forget about the media and live in accord to personal belief. No one has the right to eliminate vocabulary and to manipulate communication. Media only causes harm to society by “brainwashing” the youth into thinking not with the brains in their heads but rather with the music in their ears or the television in front of their eyes. Society is too fast paced to keep communication alive. Everything has to be fast and in your face otherwise it is overlooked and forgotten. News today shows eight second new bites knowing that any longer and they loose focus in what is being shown. Today’s media demography is youth and television, music, and advertisements all associate with the disconnected jargon of society. No longer can someone communicate with ease to anyone but the communication failure is covered up by media showing that it is just the way it is. Media hides a lot of things, anything that the network wishes to be forgotten is not released. Communication and literacy is nothing more than an elaborate façade covered up by the media because no one wishes to tell how society is slowly dying. There is never any coverage on controversial topics people do not want to hear about because it will not make society look any better or make an individual feel better about his or her self. Just like the media refuses to cover anything on native rights campaigns or equal rights campaigns for homosexuality, communication is a new thing no one wants to know the bad part of. People like living ignorant isolated lives that whenever anything in their “perfect” little worlds is challenged they pretend that it could never be and cover it up. If society cannot even manage to cover the important, educating topics of today then how can society depend on the media for communication and language?
Communication failure is becoming a regular occurrence. On a daily basis, jargon may be used to cover up ones ignorance or to apologize without placing blame upon one's self. Mark Steyn wrote an essay entitled "Spare me the therapeutic platitudes" telling of a personal experience he had had after being asked to testify at the House of Commons. To quote Steyn, "Or the decay of human communication into a Mogadon-pumped blancmange of pseudo-therapeutic vacuities is so advanced that people now talk like this entirely naturally. 'Such details are an important component of our mission and serve a company wide standard of consistency': what does that mean translated from the original bollocks?"(Steyn) This essay was published in MacLean’s Magazine November sixteenth two-thousand and nine; thus cannot be discredited by saying it is irrelevant to modern day society. Steyn's letter he received after filing a complaint was nothing more than well-constructed jargon refusing to deal with any of the issues Steyn had taken
the time to address. Steyn illustrated two very specific ways society is declining due to communication failure. Besides jargon, assumption or manipulation of definition also are at fault for this social decline.
“'The challenge of ensuring the rights to freedom of expression and the right to equality and dignity is not new...'
whoa, hold up there. 'The right to dignity'? Where's that come from? unlike the first right, it isn't one of Canada's constitutionally enumerated 'fundamental freedoms': the word 'dignity' doesn't appear in the 'Charter of Rights and Freedom,' since even the authors if that comically worthless document felt unable to advance with a straight face the creepy concept of state-mandated 'dignity'."(Steyn)
The assumption of a human right act is a rather large assumption, but nonetheless. Due to the lack of communication at present people, find no harm in saying things like 'the right to dignity' although the notion itself is completely preposterous and flawed. Peoples are forgetting the actual meaning of what they say and just say whatever he/she feels fits into the conversation. English itself is nothing if the words that make up the English language are rendered pointless due to ignorance in regards to definition. Without meaning words are nothing more than noise.
English is one of the, if not the, most popular languages around the world. All across the globe English is being used and manipulated to fit ones own desire for the language. Communication will die out if the language itself is useless. It is time to put an end to the facade and stop glorifying decay. English can be saved if everyone would give up his or her personal ignorance and laziness; all that is required is thought. If people start to think about definition or comprehension than communication will prosper once more and society will be saved from being a desolated communication free society. Language is the fundamental point of communication and communication a fundamental point of society. Illiteracy and ignorance among the literate will only destroy civilization as a whole and further isolate society.

quick works cited
English language: Information from Answers.com
Facade | Define Facade at Dictionary.com
Projects | ...research and innovation for a more literate world.
Opheliac by Emilie Autumn
spare me the therapeutic Platitudes" by Mark Steyn