“Of course there’s a lot of bad writing on the web, but there’s a lot of very good writing too. There’s just more writing at all levels of quality”.
This sentence is from an article in The Guardian about whether the internet is debasing language.
I wish I could get paid for writing such platitudes.
When it comes to lowering standards of writing, journalists for the ‘smart papers’ are probably the guiltiest.
You get the distinct impression that many opinion pieces are written to order without true feelings or passion behind them. The authors sit benignly on the fence seeing both sides of an argument without being too bothered which is right.
If they were writing about music, they could use the above lines as a template: “Of course there’s a lot of bad music around, but there’s a lot of very good music too. There’s just more music at all levels of quality”.
If the subject was sociology, they might argue : “Of course there’s a lot of violence in the world, but there’s a lot of loving awareness too. There are just more feelings of all kinds”.
A piece about nutrition could observe that: “Of course there’s a lot of obesity in the world, but there are plenty of skinny people too. There are just more bodies of all shapes”.
These are words to fill the pages and deaden the brain.
I don’t read papers anymore but I don’t encounter that many bland opinion articles when I read on the web, even in fancy newspaper websites.
Despite not being such a great example, it’s not so bad either – I’m not imitating that style on purpose, I swear. He’s actually making a statement that you can find more of every level of writing on the internet. He could say you could only find shit, or you only find masterpieces. That’d be a lot more interesting to read, but it wouldn’t be true.
I have a bigger issue with him saying Orwell was not quite right in his “Politics and the English Language”.
That’s a good point about the Orwell slur. In so doing, the writer dares to criticise one the finest essays in (and about) the English language. Unforgivable!!
That’s the writing I hate. Creating sensationalist arguments to get attention.