A billboard criticising ‘greedy politicians’ faces ridicule after the campaign’s central hashtag contained a glaring error. The board was erected in Iowa in an apparent bid to persuade residents they should not support Washington’s ‘pointless vanity projects’. But the hashtag used on the poster - ‘Take Back Are Country’ - has been ridiculed by social media users who pointed out its grammatical inaccuracy. Matt Mozzone wrote on Twitter: ‘#TakeBackAreCountry what a bunch of uneducated yokals!’ And Nick Smith, who also appeared to mock the political stance of the campaign, added: ‘Teaching the difference between “our” and “are” in school? That’s commie bulls**t!’
I learned the hard way a long, long time ago that no matter how convincingly unassailable your message might be, it will go fer not if yr kase contains speling or grammer errorz. U see what I’m talking about, right? I’ll bet you’re so focused on that thoroughly messed-up sentence that my message has already faded into the background.
You might be preaching to the choir about saving the world in a way few reasonable people could dispute…but do it with spelling and/or grammar errors, and you automatically lose (This is why a writer is only as good as their editor). As soon as your adversaries spot and pounce on a mistake, no matter how innocent, the attention is no longer on your argument; it’s on your spelling and/or grammar mistaik(s).
Yes, Virginia; having an editor can be a VERY good thing…and just as soon as I can afford it, I’m a gonna git me one of them they’re editurs.
So here I am, into the third paragraph, and I haven’t yet ridiculed the billboard’s creator for the patently ridiculous riff on the “Take Back Our Country” meme. I don’t even really need to, because social media has already done the heavy lifting for me. The message of the billboard- such as it is- has been lost in the Sturm und Drang over the uber-pointless hashtag.
Because no one’s going to care about, much less listen to, your argument if you’re screaming about “TAKE BACK ARE COUNTRY!”
You’re welcome.
