Poem by Taylor Mali- "Totally like whatever, you know?"

More often than not, we as a people speak with no confidence in what we are trying to get other people to listen to. Now, if we ourselves don't believe in what we're saying, how do we expect anyone else to? If we are not steadfast in our statements who will take us seriously? Taylor Mali’s poem, “Totally like whatever, you know?” puts a comedic spin on the issue. He makes his lines sound like he’s asking the audience questions and he points out that people often “attach invisible question marks” and “parenthetical ya knows” to the end of their sentences because of uncertainty in what they are talking about. Being that there are so many correct answers and credible sources out there, one might wonder why people seek out affirmation of their own explanations and findings through the tone in which they speak. It's because we are just not as confident as we think. Mali’s rhetorical skills exceed that of any other comedian I’ve ever heard of, and this type of speaking holds your attention longer. His motions and change of pitch have you smiling and laughing the entire time. It’s exciting when you’re listening to him speak and you can say to yourself “hey, I do that sometimes”. My favorite line of that poem is “-because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, it is not enough these days to simply “question authority”, you gotta speak with it to.”