Serial Quotes: The New Un-Speak
I used to like quotes. I even collect quotes. But something strange is going on with quotes these days. I see it on Facebook, I see it most obnoxiously on Twitter. Social media appears rift with Proselytizers of Quotations, spamming up the cyber world with fanatical zeal. Their version of “connecting” with other people, with the cyber-world, is quote after quote after quote and nothing but quotes.Hellloooo is there a real person pushing that send button?
Pre-social media, I don’t remember people conversing with other people by throwing a steady stream of quotes at them; probably because if you pulled this shit face-to-face, after a very short time, someone would pop you in the chops. Quoting @ people is the new Un-Speak. The new conversation without conversing. The new cyber-missionary’s outreach tactic. It’s as relentless as Chinese water torture, and probably just as lethal given the correct levels of exposure.
I’m sure each serial quoter is a really nice person with really great intentions. I get that the intention behind serial quoting is … inspirational – or intended to be positive and motivational… but the road to hell is, as the quote goes, paved with good intentions. I’m not inspired. I’m not motivated and the only thing I am positive about is that I really, really want you to quit quoting @ me.
Quoting smart people doesn’t make you smart. Quoting creative people doesn’t make you creative. Quoting successful entrepreneurs doesn’t make you an entrepreneur and it sure won’t make you successful. Quoting activists can’t take the place of be-ing an activist. And serial quoting famous dead people won’t make you famous or dead. Too bad about that last bit, as it might work as a bit of prevention.
If you want to use a quote to kick start a thought or idea of your own – that’s cool. If the quote is the sum total of your conversation – just stop. Quit it. The next time you feel the urge to serial quote, sit on your hands, let the urge pass you by. Start a 12-Step group: Recovery From Quoting, walk the dog, file your nails, pop a beer – anything, but quit spamming my screen with your Un-Speak.
That is all.
Right on! Perfectly stated.
And another thing. Perhaps if some of these serial quote retweeters actually read, they wouldn’t be so quick to find such jaw-dropping profundity in oft-recycled adages and cliches or a few words strung together by some egomaniacal celebrity or “motivational” person.
Maybe I’m just cynical but I doubt the majority of serial quoters/retweeters would even know (or care to know) who to attribute the quote to–were it not for the wise ol’ twitter wizard who swiped it–and in what context the words were originally spoken/written. That’s where reading and a little curiosity is helpful.
You have to wonder what the point of the endeavor (serial quoting) is. No wait. That hurts my head
I concur. I was going to search for a famous quote about quotations and the way in which they replace actual thought but that would have been both ironical and silly.
Oh I dunno Paul – I think I could appreciate a bit of silly today