Who say's the culture's suffering?

Read this article about a mural "artist." The city of Livermore, CA hired her to create a mural for a public library. She misspelled the names of "Einstein, Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo and seven other historical figures."

Her response?

"The importance of this work is that it is supposed to unite people," Alquilar said. "They are denigrating my work and the purpose of this work."

"The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she said. "In their mind the words register correctly."

Is this person claiming some sort of ESP (since one doesn't need to look at the words for them to register in one's head)?

Needless to say, this is daft. She claims to be uniting people. Through what? Disconnected consciousnesses can't unite because they're, well, disconnected. Humans are discrete individuals who unite through language, plain and simple. In fact, we're aware of the world because of knowledge, plain and simple.

Suppose language didn't exist and I felt a "pain." I know that now, when I think of "pain" I experience the concept through the word. I don't just grunt and bellow, I think "ow, that's painful" or "I have a pain in my back." The word pain is not mine alone. It has been used for hundreds of years by millions of people. Each time the word is used the speaker adds an element of clarification and understanding to it.

A simple example: Suppose that my mother really meant "itch" when she used the word "pain" and had no word for actual "pain" (not a stretch since I think the sensations of itch and pain are picked up by the same types of nerves in the skin). My use of the word, and the way I reacted to my own internal and thoroughly unique and subjective feelings, would be affected.

Language is the way we break out of our subjectivity through that very subjectivity. It's the way we make sense of the world and relate to the world. It's the only thing that really bridges the gap between people (and, by the way, language need not be spoken; touch and so forth has its own vocabulary).

Is it any shock that letters and a mastery of language have always been the hallmark of a truly intelligent person? Is it any wonder that kids who can barely read or speak (thank you, public school system) can barely think?