Current mood:	tired
Current music:	Beethoven - Symphonie No.9 en Remineur op.125 Adagio molto e cantabile
Entry tags:	aggression, capital letters, england, the english

why i avoid using capital letters
i have been putting off writing this for at least five years。 the rot stops today。

as you will have probably noticed， i very very rarely use capital letters。 this includes not capitalising first letters of sentences， 'i' and names。 back at university this seemed to cause immense consternation amongst a particular group of anal-retentives， who seemed to think blind obeisance of arbitrary rules was the be all of their existence。

i became increasingly fed up with dealing with the aggression of rigid idiots who lacked any form of input channel， which no doubt contributed to the long delay in writing this article。 i suspect the more serious sources of aggression directed my way in england had an even greater muffling effect on my productivity。 an effect that is gradually disappearing。

with each passing day， my affairs become less entangled with england， thus i have a growing ability to speak my mind， or simply ignore， without the risk of retaliation from people who have shown their willingness to screw my friends and myself given the chance。 similarly， the longer i remain away from england， the more the residual fear and lack of confidence clears， leaving me more able and willing to write。

there are a number of reasons i choose not to use capital letters。 here i will explain those reasons in approximate order of importance。 the order has a tendency to change depending on my mood and to whom i'm talking。 with that caution aside， this is my ordering without outside influences。 today。

1. i regards capital letters as extreme hubris and arrogance。
   i have never regarded man as any more than just another animal。 i do not go along with any theories proclaiming any inherent 'specialness' for man。 clearly man has considerably more power to effect its environment than any other animal。 clearly man can think and achieve on a scale beyond any other animal。
   
   this is， however， a feature of individuals， rather than humanity as whole。 the vast majority of humanity neither do， nor achieve， anything of importance during their lifetime。 the vast majority of humanity spend their lives looking for ways to avoid any sort of thought or hard work。 i'm hard pressed to see how a very few individuals make the vast majority of time-serving wasters special。
   
   even a good rock manages to hold up a house， or just look interesting。。 a good tree manages to look pretty， keep me breathing and create something useful。。 many an animal manages to look interesting and pretty， bring a smile， or keep me from starving。 the vast majority of humankind can't even manage that much， or at the very least don't try。 given the potential available to human animals， i tend to be far less forgiving of their failings， of which there are many。
   
   you're maybe wondering what the putative specialness of man has to do with capital letters。 let's look at what capital letters are used for， starting with the ultimate arrogance： the word use to refer to yourself： 'i'。 from there it expands out to the names of those oh so 'special' creatures。 thence onto things created by these special creatures and considered wonderful enough to deserve an individual name： cities， countries， sentences， brand names。。。
   
   now i am supposed to believe that these objects， above all others， are somehow deserving of special treatment and emphasis？！ sheer vanity！ vanity i refuse to indulge。 i quote from huxley：
   
   
   the greeks [..] knew very well that hubris [..] would be followed by its appropriate nemesis.
   
   you are but a beast。 you are but a beast。



2. i regards capital letters as noisy。
   it is common understanding in internet circles that writing words in all capitals is shouting。 i just take this somewhat further。 i have always much preferred calm， quiet， tranquility to the common emotive din that passes for communication amongst most of humanity。 i also tend to talk softly myself。 losing the capital letters is simply a logical extension of that。
   
   i have been asked in the past "how can someone shout just the first letter of a word？"。 i answer now as i did then： "without difficulty it seems"。



3. the self-important deserve to be baited。
   as i mentioned above， there exists a class of utterly humourless and highly aggressive nuts who are thoroughly sure of their own high importance and seem to spend a vast proportion of their time and energies trying to persuade all and sundry of that most important fact： ie that they really really really are very very important and their every word should be taken seriously。
   
   i believe it is the duty all good men to mock and bait such people。 that not using capital letters seems to make such people even more humourless， pompous and aggressive than usual is a great advantage。 not only does it expose their absurdity to general spectacle， it also serves to give such people an early ulcer： a most fitting punishment for their anti-social behaviour。
   
   it also， of course， works as an early warning system： you know that when one such dwoink starts on about capital letters， you can safely ignore， avoid， or simply mock， them as they are clearly of no consequence。 thus saving much time and energy。



4. capital letters are ugly。
   i have always preferred smooth curvy designs to hard edgy designs。 this applies to the letters as much as to anything else。 further， capitals seems to be constantly calling for attention not justified by their looks。 capital-less writing just looks prettier to mine eyes。



5. capital letters are redundant。
   i've made clear in my first point what i think of the use of capital letters for vanity purposes。 their only other usage is to make clear where one sentence stops and another starts。 i sometimes wonder if this is a matter of vanity also： wishing to show how important is this wonderful sentence thing the human monkey has so cleverly created。
   
   whatever the reason， this usage is redundant： the sentence breaking function is well served by the trusty full stop。 of course， redundancy in language is often a desirable feature， making misunderstanding less likely。。 but in this case， the trivial loss of clarity as to where the sentences break is more than made up for by the removal the problems delineated above。
   
   when i was first being forced to consider this matter， by the aforementioned anal-retentives， i came to the conclusion that the english full stop is too small。 i decided at the time that it would be better to use the much clearer japanese full stop '。'， a practice i now follow and hope will become more widespread。

that may well not be everything， but it is most certainly enough！ i think that initially i was just experimenting， mostly driven by reason four： aesthetics。 however， the aggressive response that my experimentation elicited hardened my decision and made me see the advantages of an all lowercase style。

in england， i was so surrounded by aggression that to some degree i exaggerated some of my natural tendencies。 in particular， i think i gradually became more stubbornly contrary as i aged。 i imagine that without that environment of aggressive attempts to stamp out any signs of individuality， i would probably have ended up far more 'normal'： in order to survive the oppressive conformism， i 'had to' emphasise what i consider to be 'me'， or otherwise find my self disappear。 further， i have always considered it immoral to cave before， or otherwise appease， bullies。 with that attitude， and in an environment of constant de-facto bullying， it is hardly surprising that i became so determinedly bolshy： the alternative was to end up spirit broken， a position most of the english seem to revel in， but one i consider not even fit for a dog。

to a large degree such measures are no longer necessary， but of course they have now become a strong part of my personality。 for example， i wonder if i would have continued my experiment with blue hair for more than a week if it weren't for the constant aggressive attempts， by both friends and people i'd never met before， to get me to conform。 as it is，blue hair is now very much a part of what i consider to be fennel： working where i do， i have a constant niggle in the back of my mind "when am i going to give this up and return to my natural hair？"。

similarly with alcohol： if people hadn't tried so hard to stop me going tee-total， tried to persuade me that it was impossible， i doubt that i would still be tee-total now four years after stopping the drink。 there are no doubt other examples。

i suppose i should thank england： after all if the english weren't such aggressive， intrusive， conformist shits， i would no doubt be a very different person today。 methinks they'll wait a very long time for those thanks to come， though。

i have long thought that the reason for the english producing from their midst a large number of unusually inventive and adventurous people is the very horribleness of english 'society'。 if england was only a little bit bad， all but the most driven would probably just put up with it。。 it takes a level above to drive more than a few to take enemy action： i wonder if i'd have even made it to japan， if england were a less hellish environment for individuals， as opposed to sheep。


i should add that i am well aware that the english alphabet has its origins in the latin alphabet， an alphabet that was， at least at first， made up entirely of capital letters and without any punctuation。 ain't progress grand？

(~1630 words)