Expressing oneself in proper English prose is imperative to success in an English-speaking culture. The horrible reality of this statement gives great insight into the character of English-speaking cultures; that English-speaking societies judge individuals in their community harshly based on their training in standard written English. In Tense Present, David Foster Wallace makes several compelling points about the "sordid underbelly of American lexigraphy" and some very thought-provoking insights into his own misguided perspective. One cannot ignore the unpleasant truth that standard written English is absolutely essential for success, but dogmatic intolerance towards those who are not elite in their mastery of standard written English is needlessly vile. “The truth does not change according to our abilities. to bear it” (Flannery O’Conner). Wallace makes excellent arguments that are virtually irrefutable, although he would be idealistic not to be. One point is that standard written English is necessary if you want an idea of ​​your own to rise above yourself. If an ill-equipped individual has an idea they wish to propagate, it would be quite rare for it to be taken seriously by a group of scholars. Many American intellectuals would immediately see multiple red flags of incompetence all over their “list of ideas” and then immediately lose all interest and respect for the idea. Just as Wallace said, there are many other dialects that could suffice just as well, if not better; However, the target audience for any big idea is almost always somewhat elitist, so any other dialect used will be seen as a huge sign of incompetence...... middle of paper ...... groups, clans, etc. communities, religions, countries, races, and now it is making its way beyond dialects. The awesome meme of universal empathy evolves slowly and it's dogmatic people like "snoots" who prevent this meme from spreading at a faster rate. Obviously, the solution is not for all intellectuals to convert to descriptionism, because that would propagate an exponential phenomenon. an expansive dictionary that would never end with many other problems. Even more obviously, the solution is not that everyone is a persciptionist for reasons that should not require further explanation. Democracy as a beautiful formula of moderation: not being fooled by incompetence in standard written English, and not being unsympathetic by means of resentful intolerance towards those who are incompetent in standard written English, is the answer..