Critique of Modern Writing

[WanderingLands]

Almost every time I read something from an article on the internet, I find that it reads of no creativity and no originality whatsoever. For example, whenever someone writes about a person or an event that had occurred somewhere in a point of time in human history, I find that they often plagiarize by copying certain paragraphs and passages word for word, which I find is a sign of lack of originality in trying to describe an event or a person. I see this a lot on Wikipedia, where I see at times where certain articles are not written properly in complete sentences, but often fragments, and sometimes do not even describe too well of some thing (which I often see when looking at articles of albums by certain bands and artists).

At other times, I also see that whenever I read articles from news outlets concerning political issues that I see a lot of bias and sometimes even excessive emotion in words, which I believe is not objective and is more of a sign that these outlets want to influence opinion rather than educate. It is especially true whenever I go on some websites that promote a political ideology (whether it be from the Left or from the Right) for some news and information on things that interest me. There are times that I see a lot of logical fallacies, such as ad hominem, appeal to ridicule, straw man, over-generalization, and so on. I find this to be an issue because it can influence people to believe in certain baseless opinions that's intertwined with facts (or intertwined with lying propaganda), and because the readers are often not educated into learning about logical fallacies and other important writing materials and tools to find facts, they are pulled into buying a certain ideology, a belief system, or opinion.

Writing now days, when it comes to the modern-day school system, has become more of a uniform based task just to determine a grade for a student that does not actually measure what the student actually know but how well the student memorizes whatever information is passed from the classroom (regardless if it's true or if it's meaningful). From my own experience in high school, we have to constantly write persuasive essays as repetitive assignments, and much of the other students often write in a uniform way just to get a grade. Of course, since the school is influenced by pragmatism and is regulated by government to churn economic resources and capital out of human beings (hence the term "human capital" and "human resources"), students are often told to do whatever is good to get a good grade and to be obedient to the state (other than the fact that their imagination and creativity is largely based on mind-numbing entertainment and pop "culture").

The whole of this is to describe how modern writing has decayed in modern/contemporary society, just as with all sorts of other things. I believe that it is social engineering on part of the establishment (government, as well as institutions such as the psychology and the psychiatry department, which is also an influence on the modern school system), as well as the fact that the majority of humans are more of followers than of thinkers (I believe because of the structural ranking in society which is mainly based on wealth), that the art of writing has been gutted of its creative spirit.

[thedoc]

Almost every time I read something from an article on the internet, I find that it reads of no creativity and no originality whatsoever.

Are you, or have you ever been, an English Comp. teacher?

[WanderingLands]

No I am not. Much of my searching and actual education (which is contrary to school) has been pretty much independent. I am an autodicact.

[thedoc]

No I am not. Much of my searching and actual education (which is contrary to school) has been pretty much independent. I am an autodicact.

Effectively, I am as well. 12 grades of public school and 4 years of college to get a BS in Education, but my real learning came after. Much of what they tried to teach me in HS and college was just wrong. But my learning is limited to only the things that interest me, as opposed to subjects I don't care about. BTW, I think my use of the English language is functional if not eloquent. I think that came from teaching where I had to carefully say what I wanted them to learn.

[tbieter]

No I am not. Much of my searching and actual education (which is contrary to school) has been pretty much independent. I am an autodicact.

I recently bought a new bicycle. And I drafted a product review for publication on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-20-Inch-L ... ewpoints=1

I enjoy writing, usually going through several drafts before I publish a text. I'm influenced by Strunk's classic, The Elements of Style ("Make every word tell") which was an assigned text in classes in college and law school.
http://www.bartleby.com/141/

And now, lads, I'll give you a task: Please critique my Amazon review. Be brutal, but fair.

[WanderingLands]

I recently bought a new bicycle. And I drafted a product review for publication on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-20-Inch-L ... ewpoints=1

I enjoy writing, usually going through several drafts before I publish a text. I'm influenced by Strunk's classic, The Elements of Style ("Make every word tell") which was an assigned text in classes in college and law school.
http://www.bartleby.com/141/

And now, lads, I'll give you a task: Please critique my Amazon review. Be brutal, but fair.

I haven't ridden a bicycle for a years, so I don't have authority to critique what you think of the bike that you've bought, that is, unless if I myself were to have gotten that one that you've bought. If you're talking of the writing style of your review, though, I say that it is decently written. Certainly a lot better than the reviews I see when I look at some of the books that Amazon has to offer.

As for the second link, I believe it is very interesting and I will look at it myself to improve my own writing.

[uwot]

And now, lads, I'll give you a task: Please critique my Amazon review. Be brutal, but fair.

I like that you focus on details that I wouldn't have expected in a bicycle appraisal. I think you covered the salient points and the quirkiness was engaging. I can only wonder at the energy you put into review writing; having started weighing 255 pounds, (over 18 stone in real money, apologies to the non-imperials) to have finished with a skinny ass shows extraordinary commitment.