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By definition, mass media abhor diversity. Mass media as an institution imposes one image of the public on itself, which is fashioned, God-like, in the image of those who control media. The institution rejects that which does not conform as deviant: noise.

Jeff Jarvis • The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet

The death of objectivity “relieves me of the obligation to be right.” It “demands only that I be interesting.” —STANLEY FISH

Michiko Kakutani • The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump

High school taught me big words. College rewarded me for using big words. Then I graduated and realized that intelligent readers outside the classroom don’t want big words. They want complex ideas made simple.

Derek Thompson • Why Simple Is Smart

Instead of good writers, ok writers, and people who can't write, there will just be good writers and people who can't write.

Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: w... See more

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

In language, it helps to think of word as an approximate notion.

John McWhorter • Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)

De nos jours, en revanche, alors que beaucoup d’individus continuent de tenir des propos racistes de ce genre, ceux-ci ont perdu tout fondement scientifique et l’essentiel de leur respectabilité politique – sauf quand ils sont reformulés en termes culturels. On ne dit plus que les Noirs ont tendance à commettre des crimes parce qu’ils ont des gènes

Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat • 21 Leçons pour le XXIème siècle (French Edition)

With a few exceptions, by far the most important component of successful speech communities is that its moderators have faces . A core feature of bulletin boards, comment threads on blogs, and publications is that the boundaries of acceptable speech are enforced not by tech executives, the farcical Facebook Supreme Court,[xii] or distant buildings ... See more

Jon Askonas • Why Speech Platforms Can Never Escape Politics | National Affairs

Even if, for a while, I feigned hatred of rock and roll, that only made sense on the presumption of its continued reign. Much the same could be said about liberal democracy. Today, American global hegemony looks like nothing more than a desperate reprisal of a role that must be ceded sooner or later; gone is the possibility of taking it for granted... See more

Justin E. H. Smith • My Generation, by Justin E. H. Smith

This vocabulary, a sign of the “specialist” and, of course, the elitist, thwarts universal understanding. It keeps the uninitiated from asking unpleasant questions. It destroys the search for the common good. It dices disciplines, faculty, students, and finally experts into tiny, specialized fragments. It allows students and faculty to retreat into