In case you hadn't realise,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
and (you know I'm saying)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions?
Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true, OK
as opposed to other things which were,
like totally, you know, not -
have been infected by
this tragically cool and totally yep interrogative tone? As if I'm saying ...
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
You know?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society just become ...
most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!
I implore you, I entreat you,
And I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You got to speak with it, too.