It’s amazing that something as seemingly insignificant in life as the game of Scrabble could give us a glimpse of where society may be going.

The makers of Scrabble got a lot of flack earlier this month when they announced the popular game would allow for proper nouns, like the name of celebrities, corporations, and brand names. It turns out they will keep the game as is and instead introduce a new game, Trickster, with the modified rules.

The first obvious motive why makers would do this is to rebrand and make more profits but there appears to be a possibly darker, more sinister motive, influenced mainly by what appears to be the corporatocracy.

As if today’s youth aren’t bombarded enough with ads on TV every two and half minutes during programming, with the latest celebrity gossip, and bombarded with corporate jingles that are remembered more than last day’s history or French lesson in school, board game makers took it a step further.

They know most will not like or accept the new version of the game, but if today’s kids can grow up with it, future generations will love it.

Why immerse them with words that will help them expand their mind and creativity when we can immerse them with mind-numbing pop-culture, the result of which benefits only the elite in society. It can only feed consumerism while simultaneously dumbing us down.

This reminds me of when the Oxford University Press recently removed words from the children’s dictionary that make reference to British history, the monarchy, and Christianity. Get them young enough and they will never know any better – is that the idea?

So long, duchess, duke, bishop, dwarf, goblin, mistletoe and coronation. Welcome, broadband, MP3 player, cut and paste, voicemail, and dyslexic.

I am taking this too far, you might say? Perhaps, but almost all major societal changes happen incrementally and it’s the small things that drive that change.

The whole idea also doesn’t do the English language any justice. The threat of technological lingo, predictive texting on handheld devices, and instant messaging expressions like LOL, can now be reinforced upon the minds of people through simple board games, which were once educational, and required imagination.

Oh, Sir Shakespeare, what has become of us? Where will we go from here? Something certainly stinks in the state. Fortunately, Trickster hasn't hit North American markets yet.

I’ll be dusting off that old Scrabble board tucked away in the closet the next time my grandfather challenges me to a game.

— John O'Connor