Category: Communication

Dear Ms Kerr,

I understand that you believe that those of a young age are responsible for new slang terms being created and that it is damaging our reputation as a community. However it does improve our communication among each other especially since our community is so mixed. On the other hand I do see how you feel that it may be a bad thing since it is based around (at times) inappropriate language. Also much of the time these slang terms are used to confuse authorities of any illegal activity that may occur later on in time.

However, you cant just say that it’s bad since its not formal because during the Elizabethan times, William Shakespeare created pretty much all slang. A large portion of our modern language originates from him. To be honest, if you wasn’t so hostile towards how people speak then there would be more of an ethnic variety within more societies. Take Lewisham, Camden, and Brixton for example. These places all have a very large ethnic diversity because of slang. And the fact that slang is very much accepted, I speak a lot of slang. as do my parents, but it wouldn’t be the same form. They would speak cockney or patois.

But don’t feel offended, I fully understand why you may believe so but the future is now. The year is 2015, not 1935. The English language has changed and so has the ethnicity groups of our residents. This clash causes people to pick up new phrases and these phrases start to get modified and constantly updated to keep up a trend. Then people automatically just tag that as slang and say its bad because most of the people who speak this are from poorer communities. They are perceived as the criminals. Really its just the steps forward to  a new form of language. Instead, you want to take a step backwards and keep tradition. You want to stay talking like you’re some type of Elizabethan just so that people will look up at you as if you’re above everybody else. But frankly, its just pathetic.

You don’t gain anything from keeping up tradition but instead you gain so much by being identified as where you are from or what you believe in. Together we can come up with something new and turn that into a tradition. A new, exciting form of language could appear. But instead you want to use something from the past, as if it will ‘improve yourself’ as a human being, rather allowing language to evolve.

It’s ridiculous. It’s like starting life as an old man and going back to when you were a baby again. That just proves that speaking slang is better then speaking so formally all of the time. It just makes no sense that while people’s lives have changed so much, you expect people to continue to speak the same as they have been speaking for the past 100 years. That’s just not how the human mind works!

It’s like doing the same cycle for days without an end. Somebody would eventually get bored of it and say “you know what… I want a change” and just start to come up with their own odd phrases here and there. This is the moment for change. The moment when our generation shows the development of a larger mind and imagination.

So Ms Kerr, I am sorry but I honestly don’t think you realise how much damage you’re doing to our community. By simply having such a biased opinion on such an vital topic, you are limiting expression, especially for the youth community; the people who talk like this on a daily basis. The worst speaking slang can do to you is just make you use more fillers such as “like” and “uhhhh”. How much damage can using one sound and one word slightly more do?

The worst part about this situation is the fact that you’re a young lady in her 20’s, but yet speak like you’re 70. I’m sorry, but its people in our generation who come up with most of the words that the youth community uses. So to be honest, its your fault both ways. It’s your fault for using traditional language and for encouraging us as a society not to evolve. But it’s also your fault for being conspiring with those who do create new slang terms.

So thanks, Ms Kerr.

Yours sincerely

Arun Roberts-Halil

Should torture be legal? Well yes I do feel that torture should be legal but on the other hand I don’t, because if you child was to be kidnapped and she/he only had one hour to live then of course you would have the person tortured. However I do feel that torture should not be allowed up to a certain extent for example if it was over something petty or if the public was using it the of course no.I do believe that it should not be allowed for the wrong purposes like torturing somebody because of jealousy or something ridiculous similar to that. Also I do believe that torture should not be allowed in specific countries or governments like those that are under the rule of a dictator because then they are able to abuse their power.

 However I do believe torture should be illegal especially during the time of war.

However I do feel that torture should be illegal due to the fact that it can act as a domino effect and start off a chain of revenges taking place and then everybody suffering. Say somebody tortured you’re farther for whatever reason would you not want to torture them back? Then once you torture them wouldn’t one of their relatives want to torture “you”? This also goes onto causing more crime in whatever country if torture was completely legal because then psychopaths are more able to commit a crime and get away with it.

Now well go onto if it should be allowed for the government to use. Well again it depends on the circumstance so if it was under the circumstance of a terror threat then yes of course but if it because of any other reason then, it’s really a double edged sword. Because if you was to choose to torture somebody because of a terror threat then you would get the information far quicker without killing them where as if you was to choose to just sit down and have a chat with them then you wouldn’t necessarily get anything out of them and they would also have the choice to give you information or not.

 But with the torture method there is no way around It. It also depends on what type of torture it is, so if its damage to somebody’s physical state then it wouldn’t be so bad where as if it was to their mental state then it would be much worse because then they can’t live their lives they how they use to ever again, where as if it was physical damage then they can live their lives like a normal person without a bad mental state and will still be able to dress themselves and stay independent.

However technically there is already a legal version of torture which is life imprisonment, which is torture both physically and mentally. It’s physical due to the fact that you are restricted from doing specific things that you could do with your freedom but you cat because you’re in prison for the rest of your life, then it is also mentally damaging because you lose all connection to the outside world. So to be honest there really is no point to legalize torture if you can already put people in prison for life which is worse because it’s both physical and mental torture so that’s just a huge loop hole in the idea. To be honest now I’m just starting to see it as an excuse for the government to damage those who think that what they are doing is right.

 Now I’m not saying that we should just let me blow people up and kill people but what I am saying is that the issue shouldn’t be taken for granted and just an excuse for people to suffer.

However they are doing the wrong thing so of course they deserve to be punished and why shouldn’t they? But you don’t need to use torture when they are going to be put into prison for the rest of their life anyways, it’s just unnecessary you don’t need to damage that person any further then putting them in prison for the rest of their lives because anything more then what they deserve is just out of pure spite.

 You can’t just use “we need to get information urgently” because there is many other ways in getting information out of the person without actually hurting them. Like the government can just give the terrorist a load of empty threats so they get so scarred they just give up. Or they can also lie and say that “if you tell us where the bomb is you won’t have to go to prison and serve time, but instead we’ll just send you back to your country”  and get information like that.

I conclude that no torture shouldn’t be legal for anybody both the public or the government because if the public was legal to use it then the crime rate would rise and if the government was to use it then they would just become really corrupt and be using the torture method at times when not needed, so to be honest nobody deserves to use the torture method because nobody can use it appropriately and responsibly so it would just be better to remove it from everybody rather than just one group  either the  public or the government.