I have had several requests from some of the readers to reduce the length of the blog; essentially make it a proper blog instead of an article . It would not be easy to do at all.....but I will do my best to make the readability of The Bizmic much better and accessible. I apologize if the length has been a bother; I am a consummate reader who can blast through such a short article in no time......I surround myself with books - Magazines and Newspapers are a steady part of my diet - online articles, more books, even MORE BOOKS.....I love to read so forgive my force feeding you with lengthy content. But regardless I would like to encourage you guys to increase your vault of knowledge by reading a lot more than you do now - my friend Hasaan is always bugged by me using words like plethora or insouciance where I can simply say excess or indifference - but which is more sophisticated? The only way to internalize such beautiful words, thoughts and concepts - and the English language has a myriad of them - is to READ, READ and then READ SOME MORE! Plus it improves your spoken and written proficiency, and your diction will just be steeped in brilliance; doors will even open where there were stone walls! But I have acquiesced to the requests.....the 'blogticle' is now going to be a true blurb.
I think the above paragraph length is about right, yeah......Okay so no more long intense diatribes on Money Centrism; I will keep things simple but spicy nonetheless. But herein is a quandary for me that illustrates one of my greatest concerns for Our Generation; our lack of fortitude and our ever reducing attention spans. We are members of the MTV generation - 5 minute music videos, 140 word tweets, 2 paragraph blogs, everything short and sweet! Where is the fortitude to sit for 2 hours reading The Economist, or 3 hours a day reading a non-fictional biography of an eminent personality like Mandela, or 4 hours at a time doing proper research on assignments at libraries; where is the resilience. We want everything express, even sending text messages constitute simply lining up a bunch of banal abbreviations like, "l8, lol, lmao, brb, blah blah blah." Where is the flavor in that; how good would the meals you eat taste without spice and salt; how good is what you read without refined linguistics arranged with prowess. We have strayed so far from the Poetic Beat Generation or the academic Civil rights Generation; We Are Generation XYZ; epitomizing 21st century simplicity and speed. But I am afraid that we are truly losing the spice in the erstwhile Knowledge-Based society and shifting towards an Information-Seeking soceity......and I am not particularly amenable to this but I am just a lone voice in a sea of echoes; but there is still hope!
I remember when I was studying in the US everybody I met was astounded by the fact that I spoke with such an effortless command of English and erudite authority - it confounded their misconceptions about Africa - thank you Mum and Dad for encouraging me to read Robinson Crusoe et al. Everywhere I go doors are opened not just because of how I look or dress, but because of what comes out of my mouth, or my fingertips. Sophistication will be the most prized commodity as the world shrinks smaller and smaller; as technology makes information prolific and accessible, what sets apart one from the other will be the perceptive and shrewd mind that can be dynamic in balancing the onslaught of sensory overload yet maintain a knack for using the right information in the right manner. I mean who quotes Moby Dick or Shakespeare anymore, all I see are rebranding of classic heroes and themes; Sir Arthur Conan Doyles 'Sherlock Holmes' is now coming to a theater near you as simply - Holmes (I can't wait to see how they will permeate the plot with mindless action to the point where we lose the whole point of the story anyway). But you know what.....I am a proud member of Generation XYZ, we survived the 20th century and we will embody the 21st. I just hope that we do not dilute our intelligence, knowledge and sophistication at the expense of vapidity - Yes, find a dictionary and translate! Socrates said, "I know that I know nothing" therefore I am always willing to absorb productive knowledge when I come across it......and in the Information Age, I am completely surrounded by it. Immerse yourself as I have, and the result will be phenomenal.
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