They speak, write, think — and publish English — better than we do — sigh

© 2019 Peter Free

 

13 March 2019

 

 

Caveat — unwarranted stupidity irks me

 

Today, I am curmudgeonly irked.

 

It is however, realistically speaking, just another normal day in "Deep State versus Trump" America Land.

 

And across the water, Brexit is (again characteristically) drowning itself in "I'm stupider than a boiled frog" pathetic-ness.

 

In spite of these now accustomed non-events, I succumbed to irk-ed-ness — while unsuccessfully trying to discover what is allegedly wrong with Boeing's crash-prone 787 Max 8. Scanning the American and British media(s) was not informative.

 

I ran out of patience with my fellow English-speakers' inability to be intelligent in any language at all.

 

 

Have you . . .

 

. . . read the gibberish-like headlines and stories in the American and British press about Boeing's 787 Max 8?

 

None of them make much revealing sense about the gist of the Max 8's alleged crashy trait.

 

 

Then — a "miracle" happened

 

The Japan Times published an Associated Press report that said — far more intelligently:

 

 

U.S. pilots reported random nosedives just after switching Boeing 737 Max 8 to autopilot

 

Airline pilots on at least two U.S. flights have reported that an automated system seemed to cause their Boeing 737 Max 8 planes to tilt down suddenly.

 

The pilots said that soon after engaging the autopilot on Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, the nose tilted down sharply. In both cases, they recovered quickly after disconnecting the autopilot.

 

As described by the pilots, however, the problem did not appear related to a new automated anti-stall system that is suspected of contributing to a deadly October crash in Indonesia.

 

The Max 8 is at the center of a growing global ban by more than 40 countries following a second fatal crash, this time in Ethiopia, in less than five months. In the U.S., however, the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines continued to permit the planes to fly.

 

© 2019 Associated Press, U.S. pilots reported random nosedives just after switching Boeing 737 Max 8 to autopilot, Japan Times (13 March 2019)

 

 

OMG, just a few properly ordered words that made a coherent point

 

In reflecting upon this, I saw that I had to go to Asia to obtain the English language clarity that seems perpetually to escape media outlets (and most citizens) in Britain and the United States.

 

What was (and is) most laughable is that the Japan Times-quoted AP report was probably primarily aimed at American and British media outlets. But the AP's blurb was, we can infer, too short and clear to be picked up by Anglo-Saxon-heritage outlets that seem to prize befuddlement and verbal meandering for their own sakes.

 

 

And then — there are the Germans

 

When I was in Germany, I noticed how many Germans are much more intelligently fluent and logically ordered in speaking and writing English, than we alleged native speakers are.

 

To corroborate this —for those confined between US shores — take a look at Spiegel Online International or Deutsche Welle's English pages.

 

Few in Fortress America can speak or write with similarly logical clarity and concision. It is as if Germans think about their themes and how to efficiently deliver them. How inhumanly strange is that culturally-shared quality?

 

 

A question (thus) arises

 

If noticeable numbers of Japanese and Germans speak and think our language better than we can — how societally indicative is this difference?

 

Does it matter, except as an aesthetic of exhibited brain elegance?

 

 

The moral? — Some cultures still commit to implementing efficient rationality in their communication standards

 

Others do not.

 

We Americans seem to be trapped — like frenetically impressionistic, emotionally milling rats — inside our apparently mush-filled skulls.

 

It is (maybe) no wonder that we and the Brits have so much divisively fragmented trouble knowing what we are up to and where we are trying to go.

 

If one cannot make reality-based sense at all, it will be difficult to competently orient oneself with regard to Self and Others.

 

Perhaps an answer to my above-posed question (about societal and educational traits mattering), will eventually emerge. Amid history's long ramble through civilizational and barbarian wreckage.