Page 25 - Журнал «Русский Берег» #10-2022
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RUSSIAN COAST | № 2/9 2022  МНЕНИЕ | OPINION


                   Thou art welcome, ye brave   out in public. Is it good? Of course, it is   talk cheerfully and interestingly on technical
            ENG                              good! The right to express one's opinion and   and historical topics – and then, suddenly,
                   new digital world! - quite
          recently a harmonious chorus of experts   to be heard is one of the basic human rights.   insolently make completely unforgivable
          prophesied a digital bright tomorrow for   A century ago, copywriters, editors, censors,   mistakes in stress, which, among other things,
          humanity. It seemed that new technologies   politicians, often biased, stood between   demonstrate a complete misunderstanding of
          were really doomed to change our lives   the author and the reader. And now their   the meaning of the text they read. Nosedive
          for the better. “Digital” means modern,   role seems to have come to naught. They   in aerobatics is not called “p`Iquer” – it is
          technologically advanced, efficient and   have found themselves out of business! The   called “piq`UEr”! What kind of “analysis”
          reasonable… so many praises were sung   word broke through the wall of prohibitions   should we expect from such an unfortunate
          by the futurologist.               and rushed away to the millions of readers,   “specialist” who does not know how the
                                             viewers or listeners. Democracy and   term is pronounced! Before the era of “mass
            I remember how ten years ago I attended   progress benefited from this since controlling   creativity” a lector viewed a large number
          a conference where speakers predicted   the flow of information has become much   of texts, and, thus, trained his eye so that
          the imminent death of paper publications   more difficult now. It is no longer possible   spelling errors were immediately rejected.
          and a complete transition to tablets ‑ one   to hush up socially significant problems for   Now it is not an uncommon thing when the
          after another. Some of them even described   the sake of interested parties. Lots of high‑  Russian‑speaking blogger says “molar”
          such situations: “Just imagine”, they said,   profile crimes have been investigated thanks   instead of “maliar” (decorator) so that you
          “in December 31, 2024, somewhere in the   to social networks – just because public   may think that he speaks of dentistry instead
          city of Upper Kukuisk, the last issue of the   attention has been drawn to it. Bloggers may   of finishing work! Or “bosseiyn” instead of
          Kukuiskii Komsomolets newspaper has been   become significant public figures capable of   “basseyn” – maybe they want to say it’s a
          signed for print, and the next issue (January   bringing hundreds and thousands of people   swimming pool for big bosses. A blogger
          10, 2025) will be sent out on tablets ...” And   on the streets. And, as they say, everyone   who reports only to God (or some mysterious
          what do we have now? December 31, 2024   can be a hero in this way – or at least try to.  algorithms of the Network) feels free to
          is not far ahead, yet paper publications   But then the reverse follows. All these   distort his native language in any way. But
          are not going to bid farewell. Just visit any   celebrities, opinion leaders, opposition   is it so harmless? One may say it does not
          supermarket and you’ll see it quite clearly.   politicians, bright yet controversial publicists,   matter how the word “apartment” is spelled,
          And the tablets – they are almost gone. So   who were previously hushed up and   if the family lives well and happily in it?
          now, if Kukuiskii Komsomolets goes online, it   who finally got on the air thanks to social   Yet this approach makes the entire content
          will mean bankruptcy and the actual death   networks – all of them bring a huge amount   distrustful! If the author (or the authoress) is
          of the publication rather than transition to   of information garbage, human spam   sloppy in terms of grammar, what prevents
          current popular technologies. Things that   that have depreciated the word, made it   them from being just as sloppy in content?
          seemed completely obvious 10 years ago   meaningless and “superfluous”. This freedom   Here’s the story from my beloved Alania.
          today may cause only a smile.      of digital speech made an impression that   Bloggers realtors promise up to 30% per
                                             anyone can create worthwhile content, so,   annum on investments in an apartment – yet
                   MODERN TIMES              entire professional clusters were devalued   they forget that the construction cycle is more
            In 1936, Modern Times, the last silent   and crossed out. What used to be called   than a year – normally it takes up 16 to 18
          film of the genius Charlie Chaplin, was   “text” became “long read”, or, as they   months. And in these 16 to 18 months, some
          released. There was made an attempt to   say, “too‑many‑letters” – all these curious   items may rise in price by 30%. So, finally
          comprehend, though in a grotesque form,   semantic neoplasms, desacralizing the   we have 20% per annum instead of 30%.
          the experience of the era of mechanization.   Logos, demonstrating contempt for it. Social   So, the inaccuracy of the wording leads
          Let me remind you that mechanization in   media reacted immediately. The content   minus 10% income!
          the early 1920s was considered the same   slipped into the visual, a picture with a brief   They say that the strength of a blogger is in
          “path to better future” as digitalization is   inscription under it.  trustworthiness. But how can you know that
          considered today. It is stupid to argue with   Digital world is a free world with no   their opinion is authoritative? They told it in their
          technological progress, it is even more stupid   editors, proofreaders, professionals, who   own Instagram account? The public persons
          to try to reverse it, but it is also stupid not   appeared to not always be such “stranglers”   are normally easy to check – you type their
          to notice obvious parallels with our days   and “persecutors”. Yet, as it turned out, they   name in the search engine, and a lot of links fall
          in that amazing motion picture. Each new   did not just suppress the free thought – they   out, including offline sources. Yet most of social
          technology is good in its own way, but not   filtered the content and did not allow outright   network experts are only showed up on their
          a single technology can claim to become a   graphomaniacs and fools to speak in public.   own account, with lots “likes” and comments.
          new universal religion. And Digital is nothing   TV and radio announcers underwent serious   Do a hundred comments with a “palms” or
          but a kind of technology, a technology of   training in grammar and orthoepy; special   “hearts” signs really add authority to their
          information transfer.              dictionaries were created for journalists.   statements? Who are all these people that like
            The Internet and social networks have   The culture of speech of radio and TV   their page and why is their “like” considered a
          become a real civilizational breakthrough.   presenters has been polishing up over the   confirmation of truth? This reminds me an old
          Now everyone, regardless of their individual   years and decades. Sometimes it is really   meme about million lemmings that can't be
          characteristics, got the opportunity to speak   sad to watch video bloggers who seem to   wrong! But I don’t think so.

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