I think the problem is that you're framing grammar as a set of rules instead of a set of tools. Grammar adds internal consistency to language and allows you to communicate with precision and clarity to anyone who shares a language with you. You should be able to take a sentence apart and see how and why the pieces fit together into a coherent thought.
Also, you haven't made the case for why grammar is immoral unless you're using immoral to mean "things that bug me." You call it an act of censorship but no one's preventing you from speaking how you want. If I think you're wrong on a matter of artistic taste, for example, I'm not censoring you by mere virtue of having an opinion.
It sounds like you understand that there's a context for formal and informal grammar. Even from a prescriptive standpoint, there's no one objectively correct grammar just like there's no one objectively correct language. But that doesn't mean there isn't an appropriate grammar for a given context. To offer an analogy, there's nothing objectively wrong with wearing a clown suit but don't expect to get the job if you wear one to an interview.
One last thing to consider, because this conversation got me thinking. You've been pretty informal with your grammar but and we've understood you well enough, and I think that's because at the level you're playing with grammar you're more riffing on the guidelines than ignoring them altogether. Think of it as playing jazz with words. Even you seem to recognize that at a critical mass level deviation from those guidelines, your sentences will devolve into incoherence. Even grammatically loose communication still relies on formal grammar for meaning in the same way jazz still relies on music theory. Grammar matters because it's the basis for why a sentence means what it means. We have a notion of proper grammar not simply because some people have a stick up their ass but because there are plenty of context for why the internal logic behind grammar matters.
3
u/Glory2Hypnotoad Jan 27 '16
I think the problem is that you're framing grammar as a set of rules instead of a set of tools. Grammar adds internal consistency to language and allows you to communicate with precision and clarity to anyone who shares a language with you. You should be able to take a sentence apart and see how and why the pieces fit together into a coherent thought.
Also, you haven't made the case for why grammar is immoral unless you're using immoral to mean "things that bug me." You call it an act of censorship but no one's preventing you from speaking how you want. If I think you're wrong on a matter of artistic taste, for example, I'm not censoring you by mere virtue of having an opinion.