Jacques Derrida is famous for saying that correct spelling is a form of tyranny.
On Jezebel yesterday, a bunch of commentators said that it is
racism. To make a long story short a trending topic on Twitter was
#rulesforgirls.
As one would expect for anything involving the Internet a lot of dumb, shitty things got said.
Here's a small sample:
# never fuck in the same crew. You'll be labeled as a "homie hopper".
# SHAVE everything but your head.
# I hatee when girls try too makee themselves walk bolegeted noeing dere not ! Ugh be your self plz
# value your pussy. classy > trashy
# Act like a lady, think like a man, so you dont get played like a bitch!
# if u deliberately give me an erection, plz get rid of it without complaining, its your fault! >:|
# If you look cheap and talk cheap, you get treated cheap.
# If u married wit kids, n u STILL tryna gogo dance, cant book any work cuz u round like a pumpkin, hit da gym u fat fuck
# If you don't want to be cheated on u better be a bad bitch, better show ur man ur the shit
# don't open ya legs to every nigga .... respect yourself n you'll be wifey respected" **PREACH**
# cook him food. thats the way to a guys heart.
# if u gotta man.. U better b willing to go the whole 9, b4 a brutha turn to another for sum luvin!.. Keepin it real
Now, a lot of Jezebel commentators started making fun of the spelling in many of the Tweets and commented that this reflected that they were written by idiots.
That freaked out other Jezebels who then made comments like this:
"If you can't read something because it's written in a dialect of English that you're unfamiliar with, that's not a reflection on that writer's intelligence, it's a commentary on your intellectual limitations.
I'm also struck by the level of almost willful ignorance of African American culture shown here."
And
"You can't fight sexism with racism, classism and elitism. Basically, you come across as being as biased against low income youth of color as the jerks who write these tweets are against women - and is that a place you really want to be?"
Really?
You seriously want to claim that being offended by "don't open ya legs to every nigga .... respect yourself n you'll be wifey respected" **PREACH**" is racist?
Now, anyone who reads me regularly knows I can't spell for shit. So, I'm not a member of the dictionary police at all.
That said substituting numbers for letters and not being able to tell the difference between "it's" and "its" doesn't really strike me as a dialect. It strikes me as just being a lazy, bored teenager with access to Twitter.
And, I don't think that calling lazy bored teenagers who think 4ever is the same as forever "idiots" is out of line, particularly if they are spending their free time talking shit about women.
So, wht u think bout dis, my niggas?
Preach it to me!