We Change, So Must Language

What critics of grammatical evolution don't understand that is that they are fighting for a lost cause.  Language has and will continue to change as long as it is in use.  It will never reach the point of simplicity to where our sentences look like "Gr8 C u l8r @ skul" (Hitchings) so such fears are baseless.  This is proven by the fact that the users of this kind of language-which is pretty much everyone with a cell phone-do not use it in formal writing.  There must be a solid, complete, and universal allowance of such language for it to become the norm, but there are no seemingly rational circumstances under which this would come to pass.  The fact that Elizabeth Austen claims that there is a "dogma of the period" (Austen) exposes the unnecessary nature of rules as strict as they currently are.  Statements like these from accomplished authors like Austen have sufficient credibility because of the fact that their career choice was based on a love for writing, and complaining about something one love highlights the fact that there may be true flaws in a system that deserve consideration.  Lewis Thomas expresses dislike of certain rules and marks in statements like "Exclamation points are the most irritating of all" (Thomas) and "Colons are a lot less attractive" (Thomas); now, such complaints would be acceptable to hear from a teenager-who may not have mastery of such devices and is thus frustrated-but these are coming from a man has gained mastery of punctuation but still dislikes it.  It again emphasizes that, through a rational viewpoint, certain aspects of grammar and punctuation is obtuse and in need of revising.  The tumultuous opinion Ben Dolinick has had about semicolons as a result of Kurt Vonnegut's opinions brings up the question of who should we trust?  The answer is Vonnegut because of the mark he has made on English Literature as a whole which gives the ethos required to propose massive revisions in it.  The changes in language never happen because frustrated teenagers have a tough time dealing with it, but because the champions of the field truly believe that something in their line of work is amiss and needs fixing in order to be more accessible but equally enjoyable for all.

It won't get this bad, but everyone acts like it will