Writing Like An Aristocrat

I’m a rebel, baby!

I’m a rebel.

I always have been. I do not just obey, for the sake of obedience.

You will notice this in my writing and style. I probably drive some editors and English teachers crazy, because I don’t obey their rules unless it suits me.

I’ve been this way since I was a child. I’m not dumb. I obey rules that make sense and are fair, or I am forced to obey. But, I am very quick to see that many of the rules are wrong. Many are biased, make life easier for the rule maker, and keep people down.

So I followed their rules, when they marked up my paper in school. But, they never really taught me anything. It was just rules. Some made perfect sense and I changed my ways, but others were more about an opinion. Things that were not technically wrong, but everyone agreed with because someone somewhere made a rule and everyone who went through a college followed it.

Years ago I read a book entitled “The Art Of Plain Talk” by Rudolph Flesch.

In his book, Rudolph Flesch made some statements that really stuck with me. Basically, he asks the question. Why do Americans write like English people? I am not quoting him. But that’s the gist of it.

We don’t talk like them. So, why is it that when we switch to writing, we suddenly start writing like them? Our use of certain words. The way we become all proper in our terms.

I can appreciate communicating in a way that is agreed upon so that everyone can understand. That makes sense. It’s valuable.

But, there are things in language that is nothing more than snobbery.

In England, you had High English and Low English. This is the difference between the proper well-educated English spoken by royalty, the aristocrats and highly educated, or the lower classes who used lots of slang and shortened words.

Those who spoke High English, owned and ruled over those who spoke low English, and the way a person spoke was an obvious indicator of which class you belonged to. If you spoke low English you were considered stupid, uneducated and worthy of being oppressed and abused apparently. The same thing happens in America today.

The publishing houses and editors of that day were also owned and educated by the higher classes, and acted as gatekeepers to prevent the low born from speaking out by forcing a certain level of education, in their writing. Course, by the time you reached that level of education, you no longer remembered or cared about the lower classes from which you came. it is a method of control.

The British did the same to all “Savages” they encountered. They destroyed their languages, and by the time the natives in the colonies reached a level where they were respected, they had lost the will to make real changes. They were civilized, and no longer savage. Or so they were brain washed to believe. Thus the power, stayed in power.

Of course, none of this is in Rudolph Flesch’s book. He just wanted to teach a different style of writing. (Which has been very useful by the way.) The history lesson is purely my own.

Where did I get this from? What great and important teacher told you this? You cannot have an opinion unless it comes from the masters who came before.

There are no sources. Because as I stated before, when a person becomes educated enough to be considered a source, they have also become compliant and do not rock the boat they are now firmly established on. The sources for rebellion will never be found within the oppressors libraries. You have to go find them somewhere the media and your leaders tell you not to go.

I have taken the question. Why do Americans speak a certain way, and yet write in another? And used it to show a level and method of oppression and control, most do not realize, or care about. I care, because I do not like people telling me what to do, just because they think they are better than me.

If I wrote the sentence. “I ain’t gonna do it. I don’t care what you think.” An English teacher, would puke.

I said the much hated word, “Ain’t”. Watch your head, the internet is collapsing.

I used this word a lot as a kid. I still use it when I get passionate or ticked off.

Here’s my point.

What is wrong with the word “Ain’t”?

Nothing. The sentence I wrote above perfectly expresses a thought. It communicated my meaning. But, it would be rejected because of slang.

So, communication is not the issue. It’s about using the proper words, they taught you to use when you were a child. You use the proper words in order to prove you have been educated into a system designed by people who oppress you.

Woah! Crazy talk right?

Consider that the British Empire, from before the days of William the Conqueror have fought wars to oppress people. They called it “Civilization”, or “Civilizing the savages”. You have to imagine some English aristocrat saying this in an English accent while sipping tea, to get the full effect of what I’m saying.

Say it, “We are trying to bring civilization to the savages.” Now sip tea from a fancy cup, with your pinky out.

See. you got it.

The British first colonized and ruled over my people the Scots. Then they turned to the Irish. By this time, the royals and their lackeys had become quite adept at oppressing people. So, they forced the lower class people to obey them and through wage slavery and oppression used them to create an empire.

They colonized and educated the Africans, Australian Aborigines, and Native Americans. Where are these people groups now? Civilized yet?

So again, Why do Americans speak one way and write another?

Am I saying that my English teachers were part of some grand scheme to keep the people down? No. Not knowingly. But, through education we have brainwashed people into accepting certain ideas that do nothing but keep us divided and oppress each other. Even if it is by very quiet subtle means.

I’m sure that in the 1800’s, the English teacher who worked in the government schools teaching native children English, felt she was helping them. She was teaching them how to communicate within the oppressive system that was destroying their culture. She probably felt she was helping when she called the cavalry soldier stationed outside, to come and disciple an unruly native child. The kid must learn to obey their masters, right?

So, what’s the point of all this?

It’s just trying to point out the depth of control, which still works to keep the lower classes down. The level of brainwashing that exists to make sure the working class obey the bosses. Ever wonder why you need a bachelors degree for a job, that only required a high school diploma a few years ago?

Because schooling is not education. Schooling is designed to get people to obey, under the guise of teaching them something. You can read every book your teacher reads, and you will still not be accepted. Because it’s not about what you know. It’s about whether you have submitted to the authority of a boss, long enough to be accepted as a good servant for your aristocrat masters who own everything. (Yes, America has an aristocracy. You know it when you see it.)

You don’t believe me?

Try going to work and disobeying the voice of your master. See how far that gets you.

I want to apologize to Rudolph Flesch for using his fine book as a tool for my rebellion. But, I do not read books for what the writer wants to teach me. I read books for what I can glean from them. I read books for what I find valuable.

It’s like recipe books. I read recipes and then change them to make them less bland, more healthy or better tasting for my low class palate.

This is why I love the internet. The current internet is our last gasp of freedom. It allows people to have a voice regardless of who they are. They can speak out somewhere online to find people who agree with them or at least are willing to listen.

For years, I thought I was insane because of my rebellion. I thought, “Why can’t I just obey these people and do right?” Something is wrong with me. But, after the rise of the internet I learned that millions of people see the same things I see. That I am not alone.

The internet allows a young child a place to learn and grow and actively participate in society as themselves. They no longer have to wait for years for superiors to accept them. They don’t need to prove they can obey the proper rules and speech and mathematics. They can bypass the gatekeepers and let their voice be heard right now.

A poor or working class kid can speak out online and be heard by others like them, and it doesn’t matter what the government school teacher says. They can find a way to survive and thrive even if they use the word “Ain’t”. They can get things done, even if they refuse to pass algebra. (Yes, I do carry a calculator every where I go today. In my phone.)

So, quit worrying about writing like an aristocrat and get those gate keepers to lighten up. You might have ideas that can change the world for the better. And you better get those ideas out, before the system schools them out of you. Or the internet shuts them down.

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“  a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.

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