Dumbing down. What is it? Why is it?
A term first recorded in 1933, I've seen it described as taking a complicated argument and "simplifying" it to the point where it can be communicated to the largest number of people possible. The implied meaning is, of course, "revising something so as to appeal to those of little education or intelligence."
Is the social network,Twitter, the ultimate in dumbing down? Take the following, for example:
Form as Tweeted:
@bp no time to write shorter
Form pre-Tweet:
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, child prodigy, French mathematician, physicist, inventor of the mechanical calculator, writer, philosopher) said in a postscript to one of his letters, "I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter."
Or, does Twitter have a long way to go? You tell me.
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