Thomas Hobbes defined leviathan as “that mortal god, to which we owe under the immortal God; our peace and defense.” (Wallace, p69). This simply means a higher power that regulates our actions. It could be a person, or a force that pushes people to acclimate to certain societal norm whether in the web-based atmosphere, or in real-life. An example of a leviathan is AIM.
In this day and age, it is the social norm to write to friends without taking proper grammar into account. I mean, when was the last time you spoke to your friends on AIM with perfect grammar (or grammar to the best of your knowledge)? In my case, if I started to write to my friends with full words rather than 3 letter abbreviations, and with proper apostrophes, quotes, and periods, they would be bewildered. It’s so interesting to note that bad grammar in the online sphere has become the social norm. Upon entering a chat room, we are bombarded with “brb”, “what up”, “Gotta do stats hw. Gonna be in the library 4 a long time.” What is wrong with this? I mean, even if we wanted to follow grammar standards, we resist because it is just not done.
Who is the leviathan? In this case, anyone who uses AIM or some AIM like communicating program has become the leviathan, because one person pushes others to conform in a certain way.
How does the leviathan enforce the norm? Well, in my case, if I began to AIM my friend with perfect grammar, she would probably wonder what is wrong with me. At that point, I would probably drop the perfect grammar, and go back to the conversational, short and sweet messages characteristic of the AIM norm. In this case, my friend- the leviathan, had just arched the brow, reminding me that a certain behavior is not really accepted. Although not verbal, her reproach “whats wrong with u?” is her means of enforcing the societal norm, which is in this case, bad grammar.
How do people come to know the norm? Through the leviathan’s reproaches ranging from mild to vicious, people come to know and follow the norm, thereby reaffirming the societal norm.
It’s a cycle: people like me and you do something out of the ordinary, the leviathan steps in and reproaches us, then we follow the leviathan due to fear, and this in part reaffirms the societal norm, just until someone else does something out the ordinary only to be reproached again…and so the cycle continues again and again making the action you were supposed to do a norm. At the end of the day we are just trying to follow netiquette: the way in which we should behave on the net. We become mere conformists losing our individuality and just living the way society bids we do. How great!
Comments:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2774598650119543771&postID=3131659508350551693
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2774598650119543771&postID=2138154313012432225
5 comments:
Heena,
Your post is very intriguing and right on. I completely agree with labeling anyone who has used AIM as the Leviathan, and I feel as though this is a very pertinent topic. I do admit that I talk to my Dad online, and at first, he talked with great ‘typing-speech,’ such as “Hello. How are you, David?” After completely making fun of him for first using AIM to converse with his son across the hall, and typing with such precision, I explained to him the norms of talking through AIM and what is socially acceptable. Once a novice such as my Dad, he has become engrained into the AIM society and now has even branched off to using words such as ‘kool’ and ‘what up dude.’ It was a sad day in my family to say the least.
Overall, I enjoyed your post and I agree with the information it presents. Talking more about Wallace’s arguments and information she presents in her book would be a benefit to the reader and tie all of this information together (possibly about conformity and the raised brow).
Considering that formal language appears most in writing rather than everyday conversation, it’s surprising that a communication medium that is purely text based has become the bane of many an English teacher. As David said, it was his dad’s, and many newcomers’, first instinct to write more formally. Perhaps the early adopters of instant messaging were lazy, or maybe less than competent typers started the trend of cutting letters out of words, but either way, now, internet slang dominates instant messaging. It is to society’s benefit that everyone conform to a standard, and simply by conforming can be a means of reproaching the uninformed. If that isn’t enough, reactions to formal speech online can range for the benign (“U k?”) or the derogatory. That’s all that’s needed to force someone to change their speech, even though it’s perfectly understandable before. Keeping mind that many in academia, such as professors or students, do not abide by proper spelling or grammar in e-mails or instant messaging, I would say that this leviathan has been rather successful.
Heena,
Although there definitely is a distinct culture of online abbreviations and incorrect grammar, I think that as people get older, they try to refrain from constantly using these abbreviations and incorporate more proper grammar. Certain abbreviations like “brb” and “u” have a practical purpose in online communication. Since it takes more time and effort to type out and then read full sentences, abbreviations do facilitate online communication. Poor grammar, however, can be extremely distracting. I do agree that many people would raise an eyebrow if you started using completely proper grammar, but as we get older, people become more reasonable. While the word “cool” might be spelled “kewl” in a high school AIM conversation, I think that college students generally use the proper spelling. Also, since AIM is a synchronous environment, taking the time to type out full sentences detract from the immediacy of the responses. Overall, this was a very thought-provoking post. Great job!
Heena,
I think your post is very interesting because I could relate well to it. As a person who uses correct grammar whenever I write anything, I know the Leviathan well. Whenever I type out full sentences (or words) in response to a friend’s comment, I usually get a “Hey – u there? Whats taking so long???” And although I usually use full sentences (or at least full words), it still frustrates me when other people do it. It is true – being grammatically correct takes longer and can be a hassle to the message receiver. I also agree that WE are the Leviathan – friends who judge (even mildly) their friends for how they speak online are the ones keeping this social norm the one language people must conform to online. It’s incredible how willing people are to conform to the norms that they know will make them be accepted. Great post!
I'd say the leviathan is the opposite of what you say. It's not those few individuals who do not understand AIM slang. It's all the rest of us who use AIM slang. We are the leviathan for those few who do not speak our language. Our social norm becomes an obligation for them. They must learn common AIM slang in order to communicate efficiently to most people. They have to give us the freedom to write correctly, not the rest of us. If someone were to write to you over AIM very properly with punctuation and the works, you would probably respond negatively. This is because the formalness is rare for AIM and makes you feel uncomfortable. You responding to that person would pressure he/she to conform to societal conoventions.
Post a Comment