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The first Democratic presidential debate tonight has me thinking about other types of debates. After all, many people love a great debate. Whether it be about your political position, MJ or Kobe (MJ), MJ or Prince (MJs rule), White Sox or Cubs (Good Guys), an e-book reader or a paperback (paperback), Jay-Z or Nas (Jay-Z), Tupac or Biggie (pleading the 5th), pumpkin or sweet potato pie (sweet potato). You name it, and there's a debate happening on computer screens everywhere.

There are two types of people partaking in online debates: People who can spell and people who cannot. The spelling-challenged Great Social Media Debaters (GSMDs), whose misspelled words attack us with every syllable, have a substantial online presence. They are the first ones in line on comment boards, and unfortunately no one can see them coming in droves. They are always ready to unleash their destruction of the English language on all of us.

Are we actually supposed to take these GSMDs seriously when their spelling errors mimic those of a five-year old? I'm not talking about typos either. We all have those periodically, although your average individual can handle those pesky typos much better than most trained writers and editors can. We don't care how small the typo may be, if we miss it, we are pised, aha, not today - PISSED! What I am talking about is blatant destruction of the English language through obvious lack of knowledge from people who probably didn't finish high school or who didn't do well in their English classes.

Should they really be allowed to debate with us? Most times I have no idea what message they are trying to convey. In fact, the debate is over for me once I see that someone has extraordinary spelling issues, especially if they're not from the slave era, a small child, or new to the country.

Perhaps these GSMDs should consider using their voice in person and conducting a nice healthy debate at aunt Mary's house or their brother Steve's football party where their language shortfalls can thrive without anyone being the wiser. Their co-debaters may never know that while the GSMDs are speaking, incorrect word usage is having a huge party inside their heads. With the debates now taking place safely indoors, they no longer have to cruise social media and other forums. These GSMDs can become stars in their own right, and perhaps actually win a few debates in person while their spelling mishaps remain hidden. Everyone online is now safe from the GSMDs misuse of words, which are like deep stab wounds to those who have a great respect for language.

Maybe they should have a little meet-up and debate about how to get a handle on their spelling problems. Or, maybe they should just embrace their shortcomings and debate their grammatically incorrect lives away in their own forums and social media pages where they can understand each other perfectly good. Excuse me, I mean perfectly well.

#socialmedia #debates #politics