With the political atmosphere abuzz these days, there’s been a lot of ranting on the internet, especially on social media. Clearly people have strong feelings about the candidates. But sometimes these monologues go on and on, fired-up paragraph after fired-up paragraph, as if the rants are intended to be personal essays or some other, new and emerging genre of writing.
Here’s the problem with that: ranting, first and foremost, implies the use of speech. According to Merriam-Webster, to rant is “to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner.” Macmillan describes rant this way: “to complain or talk loudly and angrily for a long time, sometimes saying unreasonable things.” Vocabulary.com agrees and adds something else—a rant is “fueled by passion, not shaped by facts.”
Writing, on the other hand, doesn’t use the voice, not the physical one anyway. It’s usually done with the hand, on paper or a screen. More important, writing takes much more than mere passion, calling us to delve deeply into our minds, hearts, and souls.
Now don’t get me wrong, ranting serves a purpose. It’s a way to release energy and get things off our chests. It’s a self-indulgence we all partake in now and then because it offers immediate gratification. No doubt, ranting can be satisfyingly fun. But ranting is better left to the speaking world, where we can spew words out and then forget about them—because usually, that’s exactly what the ranter wants to do.
Writing is different. It requires time to gather and corroborate facts and think about what we’re going to say; insight to understand and formulate truths; and care to express ourselves in a sound-minded fashion, with honesty, caution, and consideration. Unlike ranting, writing gives us healthy pride and deep, long-lasting satisfaction because it brings meaning to those we share it with.
In short, writing is simply too important to waste on ranting. Save the latter for your vocals.