From ROME to SPAM

On Wednesday January 13, my Technical writing class viewed a film about the dominance of the English language over the global community. For the purpose of this essay, I must explain that this was an academic film and not a documentary. A documentary is a film that is based completely on facts, and only observes opinions and theories if it is pertinent to the film’s subject. Since the film at many times stated opinions and theories as it’s own, it is not a documentary.
Our class assignment was to answer three questions about this outdated but somewhat still relevant film and compare it to the language used in society today. I felt inspired to write an essay to answer all three questions, plus interject my opinions and theories. This is an essay, not a document.
Language: the way in which human beings communicate verbally and in written form. It is a fact that humans communicate in other ways I.E. body language. But, that is irrelevant to the subject of this paper. Since the beginning, language has been the foundation of culture and civilization. It is so essential to our existence that even God (if you believe), found it necessary to speak to us through prophets and write to us through the Bible, Koran, Torah, etc… This was his primary way of communicating to his creation.
In the beginning of culture and civilization, language was also a tool for domination used by the ruling and intellectual classes. People’s definitions, reason, understanding, faith and morality are all products of their language. Control the language, rule the people.
Alexander the Great and Julius Cesar both understood that in order to rule the world they must assimilate many diverse cultures under one society, along with it’s social moralities. The most affective way to do this was to change the language of the educated, influential, and ruling classes of the many nations. As a result, up until the late 20th century, Latin was still taught as a requirement in our institutions of higher learning. It was considered to be the universal language and primarily used by ambassadors, CEOs and politicians.
The subject of the film was about how English has now become the new universal language. It explains how this came to be by the exploits of the Great English Empire and the profound effect on global industry brought about by American influence.
I do disagree with the film on certain points. The film infers that “American” English tends to be more influential because it is less ridged than the Queen’s English, and this is why we have slang. This is a half-truth. Anyone who knows their history, or has spent time in England will tell you, that slang has been around even before America was a dream. The film would have done better to point out Americas breaking away from the traditional class system, which was heavily dependant on language. America was the first western country in history to regard the informality of it’s language with reverence. Thanks to the freedoms of the individual within a culture to conduct business without regulation by an aristocratic class, their prosperity was not hindered by the casual way in which they spoke. In some cases it may have actually improved their chances for success.
Some things never change. Just like Emperors, Kings, Scribes, Priests, Intellectuals, and the influential of old, we still have the ambitious ideologies trying to change our language to suite their agendas. Politicians, activist, extremist, media and intellectuals grabbing for fame all still endeavor to apply language change as a method to attain power. Although most attempts fail and are subject to social ridicule, even the smallest change in a language will lead to profound change in a culture. In the last 30 years, a force was unleashed upon the world, that threatens to great struggle for domination of old. What is this great emancipator that also has a real possibility of becoming a greater oppressor? Technology.
Thanks to the invention of the internet, people around the globe have the ability to communicate quickly with each other without the fear of any social reprisal. The language you use is no longer dictated by your peers or community. Even slang that defined you as a part of a subculture is becoming irrelevant. It is evident within younger generations who still hang out with different clicks. Now they are all sharing the same tech slang. OMG, LOL, GB’s, RAM, TXT, and BFF, are all examples of acronyms and tech slang, that is universally spoken regardless of any culture or group a person is affiliated with. Technology is even eliminating the need for a dominate language in business and trade. ATM’s, phones, and many other transaction based machines can do business in multiple languages. Like Latin and English before, tech language will soon (if not already) begin to be the new universal standard of communication. The biggest difference is that it didn’t get it’s power from wars of conquests, but from a bunch of geeks in Silicon Valley.
So what happens now? Will technology’s effect on our language drastically change society to the point we won’t even recognize it ? Will it turn our civilization into an Orwellian type of one world order? Or will humanity begin to reject this new language by still using their voices, writing on paper, and communicating face to face? Who knows? I do admit, that the implications of today’s technology and the effects it is already having in our culture scares the bejeezees out of me. However, I am still comforted by an eternal optimism that no language can explain, no person in power can touch, and I still can just relax and smile once in awhile.
What I learn in technical writing today may very well be irrelevant as soon as five years from now. However; if I can gain the ability to be more eloquent in my writing, it will be well worth the time and money.