Illteracy, the internet and tattoos

Well, it's been just a few days shy of a month but that's mainly because I've had nothing to say. But recently I've been sitting around thinking, and I think it's time for my first real, civilized, educated argument.


na i is jk i r totalys 2 c2pud 4 dat. Has anyone else noticed the lack of literate skills of grade/high school students? I'm not talking global literacy rates, because it's inevitable that that has actually increased, but on a small scale, look over at the guy with the baggy XXXL jeans and truckload of metal around his neck. Look at his essay, does it look something like:

"da viscocity of the something ya iuno realy no wat dat meenz but u sed to rite abawt it so i is."

Yeah, probably. Now I'm not one to blame things totally unrelated, but if you think about what the youth is into these days...

Texting
IM-ing
The interwebz

You can see where I'm going with this. Personally, I think online/texting shorthand or chatspeak is stupid, with the exception of abbreviations for real phrases (BRB, LOL, etc.), but using "r" to replace the already short word, "are", and "u" to replace the three keystroke word "you" is just plain sluggish. I mean, come on, it's two extra keystrokes guys. It might take an extra .05 seconds if you have a typing speed of over 2WPM, but it's the difference between looking like an illiterate fool or looking like you know how to spell a three letter word.

That's not really my topic today. My point is that this chatspeak, which so many claim is harmless and just for the internet is actually affecting the way people write. So many people I know think that using a capital "U" instead of an undercase "u" makes it's alright to use it as a supplement for "you." People also do not know how to use apostrophes properly as apparently, on the internet, they are optional. People think that just because you're not at school, you don't need to use proper grammar. Guess what Einstein, you're not taught to write properly so you can ignore all grammatic rules outside of school. You're not taught math so you can impress you friends with the answer to 12+2.


Moving on, what's up with discrimination? Slowly, our failure of a species is becoming more accepting to things like race, sexual orientation, religion and gender, but that's about it.
What about people who call themselves "indie", "emo", "goth", etc? Are they less human than blacks, gays, atheists and women? Of course not. Sure they have earlobes the size of your new flatscreen TV, sure they can walk out the door naked and nobody would notice, sure they have metal on every square inch of their face, but how does that make them disgusting, worthless or stupid? Every career consultant will tell you that somebody with more than piercings on their ears are less likely to get a job at an office... why? Less than a century ago, people would not hire women, they would not hire blacks, they would not hire homosexuals and they would look down upon those who are not of their religious party. We've overcome those immaturities now, but why is it still unacceptable to be a little different? I'm not saying I support or are against these people, but why are they seen as less of humans than the rest of society?