The English language becomes the arbiter of reality:

Reality – as defined textually, visually, and experientially (albeit virtually so) – on the Internet, becomes constructed within an English language semiotics. If the web-surfer keeps in mind that this is simply a version or representation of one of many potential constructions of reality, perhaps the results are not so toxic, but still, the mind is slowly programmed to accept “reality” as one without tildes, graves, and non-English characters, and, in the case of American news media, as one with standards of supposedly “transparent” and “clear” U.S. English, written in the classic inverted pyramid journalistic style.

Return to English Language Hegemony on the Internet home.