Alan Siegel - Let's simplify legal jargon!
To write a review about a TED video, I looked through several videos with ideas worth spreading. Many were interesting, starting from how to defend earth from an astroids to a 12-year old app developing prodigy. I liked the videos, but I couldn't find an idea that I would like to passionatley advocate for. Rummaging through the TED site, I found this specific idea. Alan Siegel is speaking in favor of simplicity, where official documents will be writen in plain, concise English instead of jargons. With what seems like a simple idea, I strongly agreed.
Actually, I felt the problem of it just few hours ago. When making an account, there is a long, verbose contract with a check box saying "I read this contract and agree to the terms mentioned." Every time reading those checkboxes, I wonder how many percent of people read the contracts with gravity. The contracts are 80 pages long, with insipid jargons making it more obscure. People realize that such contracts are important, but they feel reading the whole contracts is nearly impossible and very tedious. Most of the times, there is no serious problem caused by not reading the contracts; however there are people who get pivotal damage by not reading.
Going back the history, verbose documents were always used to discriminate people. The rich and educated people used jargons and made the content ambiguous to prevent the poor, uneducated people form comprehending what they were making contracts for. As a result, the uneducated became depleted of their remaining wealth, family members, and more. They were bound to the rich and became trapped in a cycle of poorness.
Actually, such discrimination still exists in today's world. It is especially lucid in courts. Usually, workers are not aware of their contracts and their working conditions. They are desperate for their jobs, and sign the contracts without knowing it. When they later find out about their unfair conditions, they sue their employees and companies. Workers and companies go through the court process, a complex process filled with legal documents full of jargons. Workers have hardship in going through the court process itself. Uneducated people cannot endure innumerable contracts needed nor the cryptic message the contracts possess. They tend to give up, and another bad cycle occurs.
Contracts are there to help people to cooperate better with the company and to prevent people from getting possible disadvantage. It is not a pretentious piece of writing to appease skeptical consumers. To serve the full purpose as a contract, redundant jargons need to be replaced with relevant, easy English. By the reform, the contracts can give authentic help to the people.
Going back the history, verbose documents were always used to discriminate people. The rich and educated people used jargons and made the content ambiguous to prevent the poor, uneducated people form comprehending what they were making contracts for. As a result, the uneducated became depleted of their remaining wealth, family members, and more. They were bound to the rich and became trapped in a cycle of poorness.
Actually, such discrimination still exists in today's world. It is especially lucid in courts. Usually, workers are not aware of their contracts and their working conditions. They are desperate for their jobs, and sign the contracts without knowing it. When they later find out about their unfair conditions, they sue their employees and companies. Workers and companies go through the court process, a complex process filled with legal documents full of jargons. Workers have hardship in going through the court process itself. Uneducated people cannot endure innumerable contracts needed nor the cryptic message the contracts possess. They tend to give up, and another bad cycle occurs.
Contracts are there to help people to cooperate better with the company and to prevent people from getting possible disadvantage. It is not a pretentious piece of writing to appease skeptical consumers. To serve the full purpose as a contract, redundant jargons need to be replaced with relevant, easy English. By the reform, the contracts can give authentic help to the people.
Only 9?? I'll check this again later.;)
ReplyDeleteAlso Reading Journals. You have time, so try to hammer out something about The Body/Stand by Me to eek out a score.
ReplyDeleteMore than 20! A nice update. I agree with this guy! Why can't life be simple? Those long contracts are the result of mistrust and dishonesty among humans. Simplicity leaves us vulnerable. If we aren't prepared to be vulnerable, life will never be simple, and nor will our words.
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