With the recent advances in technology, society’s
expectations are at an all-time high for the speed at which we get information.
We are constantly connected to the rest of the world through our mobile devices
with a near infinite number of sources competing for even a second of our
attention. In such an environment, brevity and clarity in communication and
writing are becoming much more valuable than style and tone. In the world now,
the plain style reigns supreme.
So, what’s the problem? People are being presented with more
information faster than ever before, shouldn’t that make us smarter as a
society? Not necessarily.
Increasing Speed of Communication
A
recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of American adults
are getting their news from social media. Deep, complex stories and issues are
being summarized in tweets and posts with the goal of generating the most
clicks. Even tweets from the President of the United States Donald Trump are
considered to be official
statements from the White House. The leader of the free world now
communicates to us the issues facing our country in 240 characters or less
while in the past it was done through State of the Union addresses sometimes
lasting longer than an hour.
This ethic of expediency and obsession with “giving the
highlights” is giving way to gross oversimplification of important issues and
topics which is not only disingenuous to the consumer, but also dangerous. A
prime example of this effect is with the anti-vaccination (anti-vaxxers for
short) movement currently underway. Since the emergence of vaccines, there has
been opposition to them and never more so as to today. Anti-vaxxers claim of a
link between vaccines and autism as well as a reduction in the effectiveness of
vaccines. These claims have all been refuted by science, yet they are still
still presented as fact on forums, blogs and social media.
Anti Vaxxers
Take for example this article
from the Walking Times titled “5
Vaccines to Never Give a Child”. The Walking
Times is an online magazine that "awakens the
highest expression of the self” and its author, Dave Milhalovic is a
“Naturopathic Doctor” specializing in vaccine research. The article is written
in the plain style and a victim of oversimplifying the complex topic of vaccine
immunization for the sake of brevity and clarity.
According to the Center for Plain Language, writing in the
plain style is a five-step process. The first step is to identify one’s
target audience and user base and write for them. The author also self-identifies his target
audience as “[a group] still partially affected by medical propaganda from the last century and insists there
are at least some “good” vaccines; and [another] group [that] has a total blind
loyalty to what has been erroneously declared as “vaccine science” and will
defend all vaccines regardless of any resources or evidence that presents the
contrary.”
The second step is to
structure the content to guide the reader through it. This is accomplished in
the article through subheadings and providing links to referenced studies and
articles. A format increasing in popularity on the internet. The third step is
to write the content in the plain language and to have a conversational tone
with active voice.
When conducting a readability
analysis on the article, the writing was found to be around an average grade
level of 13.3. Do note that this reading level is slightly elevated due to the
medical jargon present. Nevertheless, it is written in a conversational tone with
simple words and short sentences. Take for example this sentence.
“Mumps
used to be a routine childhood disease. Many of you reading this likely had
your turn, the virus ran its course while you stayed at home in bed, and you’ve
been rewarded with lifelong immunity. In most cases mumps, like many of the
childhood diseases we’re now vaccinating our children against, is not a serious
disease.”
Ignoring the completely incorrect information regarding the
seriousness of the mumps (which can lead to meningitis, ovarian inflammation
and profound hearing loss, not to mention it is one of the most contagious
diseases), we can see that the language is plain, easy to understand, and
utilizes transitions to connect ideas.
The fourth and fifth step of the process is further
optimization of the structure and content to adhere to the needs of your target
audience which is accomplished through listing versus using coordinated and
subordinated sentences.
Oversimplification
Now that we’ve established that this article is written in
the plain style we can get to the truly important part; the oversimplification
and misrepresentation. The author frequently cites studies and articles but
misinterprets the findings. For example, he states
“Another remarkable fact is that
although all pregnant women are encouraged to receive the flu vaccine by health
and medical authorities, the safety and effectiveness for pregnant women or
nursing mothers has also not been established. Perhaps this is why studies show
many spontaneous abortions and stillbirths after pregnant women are vaccinated.”
The linked
study was conducted a Neil Z. Miller, a journalist, and Gary S. Goldman who
has his doctorate… in computer science. The study, even if it is from two
unqualified sources, states that “A closer inspection of correlations between
vaccine doses, biochemical or synergistic toxicity, and IMRs, is essential.”
Which means that they were unable to prove anything. Mihalovic interprets this
casual correlation as causation.
In another part of the article, Mihalovic cites the lowering
effectiveness of the whooping cough vaccines as evidence for its “uselessness”.
This is another oversimplification because, while true that statistically the
vaccine is less effective, it is due to a decrease in vaccinations from the
anti-vaxxer movement which affects the herd immunity
aspect of the vaccine.
Mihalovic assumes that by using this simple, clear style of
writing that he is helping his target audience. He even describes this as his “use
specific techniques to deal with each group when communicating information as
each can only go down the rabbit hole so far.” What he is actually doing is
misrepresenting facts and promoting misinformation to prove his point.
Dangers of the Plain Style
The question then becomes one of intent? Is this all an
honest mistake and a display of the shortcomings of the plain style? Or was he
malicious and deliberating misrepresenting information and oversimplifying
concepts to deceive?
The answer is both. The plain style has its uses to be sure.
If you want a list of the top five things to do in Reykjavik, Iceland for a
vacation, it is best to give us the information simply, quickly, and clearly.
However, when it is something as serious as vaccinations and disease, we cannot
afford to condense hundreds of complex and dense scientific studies into five
bullet points. There is simply too much information lost along the way.
Then there is the malice which I see as the true crime here.
Dave Mihalovic is a fraud and a cheat. He is a self-declared doctor that twists
scientific findings to say what he wants them to say. He profits off this
anti-vaxxer charade and uses the plain style to make it seem like a simple
issue when it most certainly is not. He even literally says he is “not a fan of
those that sit on the fence when it comes to vaccination” and that “all vaccines are useless.”
As the plain style becomes the expectation of consumers, we
risk setting articles like Mihalovic’s equal to the lengthy and jargonistic
scholarly articles of academic journals and reputable newspapers. Though the
plain style has its uses, there is a very real danger here that we all as
consumers must face. If we don’t, we risk men like Dave Mihalovic profiting off
our laziness and endangering lives in the process.
-Noah Finco
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