Pretension

Hi there, 

The topic of today is pretension. Most of us are pretentious about certain aspects of ourselves, but the level varies widely from person to person. 

But I think I have found the pinnacle of pretension, the highest peak of snobbish self serving rubbish, the apex of bombastic stool water. (You get my point.)

This article. The Ideal English Major

As an English student myself I have my own healthy level of pretension. Like when I read classic literature not always because I enjoy it but so that I can sound more interesting to my peers. (But I'll never like Jane Eyre. It's shite. I'm sorry, its just the way it is. Why can't we read Edgar Allen Poe? his stuff is dark and creepy as hell but awesome.) 

I think what I find most pretentious about this article is where it states that "an English major means pursuing the most important subject of all—being a human being." No it isn't. English is the study of how meaning is created through the use of language and form and then how this is perceived by the reader/listener. Leave the 'what it is to be a human' debate to the philosophers. They love this sort of pretentious crap. 

It's hard enough being an English student, and dealing with pretentious English students without an article adding to the snobbish nature surrounding it. True, English is an excellent degree if you love reading and want to do academia for the sake of academia. But don't try and suggest that it is the enlightened subject, when other subjects are just as valuable, if not more so.

I chose English not because I had some hipster notion of not doing a science or economics because it would be construed as selling out. I chose English because I love to read, just about anything, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do yet. I might still convert to law afterwards. How's that for selling out? I also love that, it many ways, English is not limited to texts, but encompasses other languages, history, psychology and philosophical elements as well. I wouldn't say it is the study of being human, but, what one particular person or group of people where thinking at the time, due to their socio-economic and historical context. Yet even this is inevitably coloured by our own prejudices so we can never have an objective view and we will never be able to fully recreate or understand the true meaning of most of the things we read.

As to the points about language the article made, suggesting that English students become masters of language whereas other subjects are controlled by their jargon...this too comes across as conceited. 

One thing I have learned about language, while studying English, is that language is a powerful tool that can be used by all professions and subjects to bend meaning to their own agenda. The language of medicine and law are just two examples of how language has been taken on by other subjects and used to devastating effect. Subjects aren't controlled by jargon, this is there own form of language to root their own ideas and values. All forms of language are valuable because they all facilitate communication and act as measuring instrument of the culture and time of which they are used. English students may be more adept at constructing elaborate metaphors does not necessarily mean that they hold greater power over language than anyone else.

I think what I am trying to get at is that I disagree with this article because I think it makes arrogant and inaccurate claims about not only the study of English but of many of its students. I do not believe that because I am studying for an English degree that I am any more enlightened about the human nature than anyone else. Perhaps there are English students who really do believe that studying English at degree level gives them greater right to comment on the human condition. I certainly don't want to meet them. Pretentious gits. 

Thanks,
TheTinyBookworm
xx