Happiness Tree

In Defense of Sumptuous Language

I recently attended a writing conference. I had the impression that the subject of the gathering would be marketing, but instead the topic was very different, and frankly, quite shocking.

A well dressed gentleman, mature, but well put together, was introduced by the emcee as having been an engineer during his professional life. When he spoke, there was an obvious aire of intelligence and as the program began I adjusted my body in the seat, preparing, I thought for an informative and hopefully entertaining lecture.

The title of the presentation (and I paraphrase here), was something to the effect of "How to Write Non-Fiction That People Will Want to Read". Hmm, I pondered, how fortunate, I write non-fiction, this should be good. But the thrust of the content gave me pause, as I increasingly found myself metaphorically picking my jaw up off of the floor.

It seems there is something called a the Gunning Fog Index. It was developed by an American businessman in 1952. The objective of this so-called index is to determine the "readability" of a given text, by running it through a meat grinder of a formula, to arrive at a factor that determines the level of intelligence needed by the reader, for the writing to be understood. 

A factor of 12, for example, would be equivalent to the understanding of a 12th grader, or someone who is about 18 years of age. A text intended for wide distribution would need an index number of less than 12. And one intended for the general population would need to be compressed to an 8. 

Furthermore, words that have more than three syllables, are considered "big words" and are therefore undigestible.... kind of like As-par-a-gus. What happened to using a dictionary to learn the sound and meaning of new, unfamiliar words? That is how each of us is supposed to build our vocabulary.

But I guess in our new, technologically-driven world, that all takes too much time. And the degree to which you improve your vocabulary is perhaps the degree to which you distance yourself intellectually from "your peeps" (Common vernacular for People, in case you didn't know) 

I left the conference, deriding the whole premise as ridiculous. But later, upon reflection, it dawned on me that a reemergence of this mathematical evisceration of our language could spell the end of literature, as we know it. And I fear that there indeed may be a diabolical plot to do just that. 

With greater frequency, I recalled, on television, I am now hearing jumbled together sentences and contemporary brain damaging phrases  like "my bad" or "you guys", when addressing their audience. I know that for many of you out there, especially those we now derisively refer to as "millennials", this all seems "Much Ado About Nothing". Especially to those that are comfortable using "u" in place of "you" or "BTW", for "by the way" in your text messages. Okay, call me a grumpy old man, I'm probably guilty as charged. 

But for a writer, a real writer, that loves the language and communication that carries weight and emotion, this trend feels like another layer of civility being ripped from our society. The satisfying sense of using our god-given brains to elevate our discourse can still be found, for now, in well written books, magazines and even on radio, but it is dwindling, like the wild, untrammeled places on Earth, where we are still free to expand our minds into the wonders and mysteries of creation. 

Maybe one day, language will be like commuting to work in a cheap, little car. You'll eventually arrive at your destination, but the ride will be uneventful, boring, devoid of interest. 

For me, the content I will read and listen to and the writing that I will create will be more like climbing into a fine European sedan. You'll hear, feel and smell imported Corinthian leather under you as you fill the seat; the dash will be constructed of the finest hardwoods from across the globe, tinted windows, seat warmers and a rich, powerful sound system all combine to transport you physically and sensually to another dimension. A sense of weightlessness will envelop you as you clutch the sumptuous steering wheel in your palm and press on the accelerator. The roar of a finely tuned, precision power plant reminds you of a big cat waking up after a full meal. You drop the 9 speed transmission into drive and the thrust propels you back in the seat like a muscle car from the 1960's. But the ride is smooth, the movement is effortless and the experience is priceless.

That, my friends, is how good writing should make you feel.

-Shane Eric Mathias

White America is Angry - And It's Killing Them in Record Numbers

There is a slow moving national tragedy, occurring mostly in the shadows. It may indeed be affecting your friends, family, colleagues, even yourself, but this situation may lie just beyond your perception. A silent killer that stalks at night as well as in the light of day, yet is so insidious and pervasive we miss the poisoning result of it’s toxic campaign until it’s too late. Only a recent study was able to see the disturbing trend by looking at demographic shifts. And what it reveals is staggering. 

Let’s dive in to look more closely.

When a Nobel Prize winner comes out with a study, it usually garners big headlines and this one is no exception. Angus Deaton, a Princeton University economist, along with his wife Anne Case discovered a pattern of U.S. middle aged whites dying in record numbers from preventable causes such as suicide, drug overdose and alcoholism. No other racial group or industrialized country is experiencing the same degree of mortality and this trend speaks volumes to the decline in the quality of life this group has come to expect. This trend was independent of the ‘Usual Suspects” such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. These are self inflicted causes involving overuse of opioid pain killers, such as oxycontin, poisonings and chronic liver disease, resulting from alcoholism. And no clear drivers of this trend have yet emerged, but it would seem that in this case, white Americans are becoming like the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine', perhaps symptomatically declaring what we all know but are loathe to admit: that our way of life is changing and it would seem there is nothing we can do about it.

Why only white Americans?
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That is the conundrum and parsing it out uncovers some interesting socio-economic realities. Black and Hispanic groups who are actually seeing improvements in their overall health and mortality rates have never believed that the ‘American Dream’ was conceived for them. When one has low expectations and conditions remain the same or decline, the psychological effects are not as severe as for one who feels let down or betrayed by “their own system”. And while white Americans with only a high school education or less are the most conspicuous group dying in record numbers, the trend can be seen up and down the white economic ladder, pointing to something deeper than merely being less well off. 

 

 

Some possible answers

Drawing from my own anecdotal observations: African Americans and Hispanics tend to enjoy better family relations, maintaining strong connections between individuals across the generations. When times get tough, these groups instinctively band together to share living space, expenses and meals, with little or no conflict resulting from their increased proximity. These familial connections make it less likely that one member’s aberrant behavior will go unnoticed. Drug addiction, alcoholism or depression are much more difficult to hide from those who know you best and care about you most. And the guilt resulting from causing anxiety to your parents and grandparents serves as a strong incentive to get your life back on track.  

White Americans on the other hand are most likely to be members of a broken family, with ex-spouses, parents and grandparents spread across the country. When the individual falls on hard times, there is no one around to lean on, there is no one to observe or curtail bad behavior. And when a white man or woman suffers unemployment or under-employment, with its associated cascade of mounting bills and declining health, the lack of options often leads to one spiraling down into depression, addiction and possibly even suicide.  

Wake up and smell the coffee

The fact is, as we enter this new year, it’s necessary for each of us individually and collectively, to come into alignment with a few realities. The American Dream, if it ever existed is either dead or on life support. We no longer live in an insular paradigm, with the ability to prosper in spite global trends. We are now tied like never before to a single economy, with several moving parts, rather than an independent financial system. The permeability of our borders, whether physical or ideological has given rise to new threats showing up on and within our borders. Terrorism, global weather instability, the loss of manufacturing jobs, the financial crisis and fear of cyber attacks are all relatively new realities that no one can hide from. And the gravity of this new world order seems to have struck at the heart of the story white America has been telling itself for generations: that if you work hard and stay out of trouble, you will prosper and succeed. The narrative has always been that each successive generation achieves more than the one before: better health, better standard of living and more satisfaction. But it appears that this trend has peaked and is now reversing and no one feels it more than white America. 

Having grown up in this democracy, I have heard the drumbeats against socialism and communism all through the cold war and beyond, precisely because our system was supposed to be better. The narrative has been that the individual has the opportunity to achieve his dreams and accumulate mass amounts of wealth, if he will only apply his imagination and persevere through the hardships. And as the chart above reveals, that has been true for a small percentage of the population, but for most of us, it's sounding increasingly apocryphal. This philosophy goes on to admonish that best way for government to help society is to get out of the way, allow business and innovation to drive progress. 

The 100 year experiment

Certainly, the industrial revolution, which started around the beginning of the last century demonstrated that business rather than government was the platform most likely to improve the lot of the wealthiest nations. And if you were lucky enough live in one of these, it was easy to remain ignorant of the fact that the so-called 2nd and 3rd Worlds, still lived in relative anarchy and chaos. But now, increasingly the lines between countries, races and classes are becoming blurred. Rather than middle and upper class Americans living in a perpetual bubble, immune from the dangers of the wider world, it is increasingly evident that we all live on a shrinking planet, whose rotation is slowing. And governments are having to intervene with food stamps, constraints on financial abuses, monetary manipulation, health care cost controls and aid to the elderly and homeless to a degree that was previously derided as "socialistic", precisely because when the global economy tanks, it pulls down the standard of living for everyone.

There is no longer a privileged class and the cost of supporting this behemoth system is relegating our previous way of life to the history books. In essence, we all must share some of the responsibility and therefore the pain of compromise. 

We are indeed living in a “New World Order”, but it’s not the bucolic serenity foretold in biblical fantasies, rather it is a world mostly of our own creation that we have come to fear and detest. And as with any system, whether natural or man made, only the strong will prevail when the chips are down. But in this case, strength will not be measured by the size of one’s muscles or arsenal, but rather his or her ability to think on their feet. Street smarts, if you will. Imagination, ingenuity, perseverance, discipline and self determination will still win the day, but also good relationships and strong families round out the most potent tools in anyone’s life. 

I’m sorry ‘White America’, it’s time to get off your pedestal and learn what other ethnic groups learned long ago: the system is not set up for you or for anyone other than those in power. But responding to that by abusing drugs and alcohol will only ensure you have fewer tomorrows in which to find a solution to your problems, instead, leaving them in your wake for someone else to deal with. 

Reduce your expectations, don’t expect to be rich, don’t expect corporations or government to care about you, don’t buy into the media driven notion that gadgets can make you happy or that politicians can fix the world.

Instead, bring your family together, learn to compromise with one another, gain from the strengths each of you brings to the table, pool your resources, organize your life, reduce your expenses, grow your own food if and whenever possible.

Our century long social experiment is failing society and it’s time to return to traditional values, the ones that sustained humanity for centuries. 

Follow this simple plan and you will survive this crisis, to hopefully see better days ahead:

•Care for your health 
•Live simply
•Love abundantly 
•Give generously 
•Work enthusiastically
•And be happy for what you still have.  

If you have questions or comments about this article: 

Please contact Shane Eric Mathias

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