The "Polluting" of the "Culture of Power"

Crystal VanKooten’s video raises some interesting questions about how CMC is used in standard written English. I mentioned some of my thoughts on this issue in class, but I’ll reiterate and elaborate on them here. I don’t believe CMC is “polluting” anything. It is a form of communication that is readily used in our society. It is not as formal as some forms of English, such as that used in academia, but it is still a form of English with a whole culture surrounding it that shouldn’t be disregarded. From the article we read last week by Lisa Delpit, we learned about the “culture of power.” I believe that one of reasons that CMC is so hotly debated is because it’s not part of this original “culture of power,” but it is slowly gaining power and a strong following that is threatening this “culture of power.” This “culture of power” is threatened because users of CMC don’t always know when CMC is not appropriate. Therefore the people in the “culture of power” feel like they are being overrun and loosing their control on what is right.

Although I feel like CMC should not be disregarded, I am aware that it does have its inappropriate moments. People, especially youth, have not necessarily been taught when CMC is appropriate and when standard written English is needed. Therefore, I feel like instead of getting defensive and saying CMC is “polluting” the language of power, these people should be putting their efforts into educating where it’s appropriate and where it’s not. Like Lisa Delpit says that in order for a person to succeed in the “culture of power,” they need to taught the rules of this culture first.