Words
Intelligence and the development of advanced language were attributes that allowed the human species to dominate the planet and advance the species. With language, humankind could put ideas into words that, in turn led to group actions that generally benefited humans. Throughout the history of mankind words could inspire, comfort, entertain or threaten. All good if the words were truthful; words could be proven truthful if followed by confirming actions.
Civilizations are nothing more than groups of people agreeing to a set of normal behavior expressed in words and deeds. If we had to rely on deeds alone, by foregoing spoken language, it would be nearly impossible to form and maintain a simple household, let alone a civilization.
Civilizations are based upon trust amongst the people within the civilization based upon the words and deeds of the members. So long as the people in a civilization can understand and agree with the ideas presented by words and confirm the words through deeds, trust and a civilization can exist. When words and deeds diverge then trust falters and civilization begins to recede.
Prior to the 20th century most humans only read or heard a few thousand words per day. The veracity of those few words could mostly be readily discerned by observation of reality or actions of the speaker. Trust was possible. Since the advent of radio, television and the internet, most people are exposed to tens of thousands of words per day. This endless barrage makes it impossible to verify the trustworthiness of words or observe the actions that result from these words. Hence trust is increasingly difficult to form or maintain.
Compounding the problem of too many words, is the proliferation of communication professionals who distort language to sell an idea, a product or a reality. Behind these public relations speakers are psychologists and lawyers who determine which words should or can be used to do the job at hand. When these professionals are done it is mostly impossible to determine truth or establish any trust. Words no longer help but hinder us.
Lately the media tells us that new unemployment claims have fallen by -22000. Ok. Fallen from what number, where and when? People want to know if the number of unemployed is falling, growing or flat. Are things getting better or worse? It seems that the government and media have twisted words to make us feel better rather than convey information that is truthful and inspires trust.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told us that the "system worked" even though a jihadi was able to set off a bomb on an aircraft. Ok. If we understand the words security, system and worked then Janet is a liar because security did NOT work on this aircraft, there was no system to prevent the jihadi from getting on the aircraft and the only thing that worked was the jihadi's plan. Janet lied and I don't trust her or our government.
The Congress has passed a Health Care reform bill that is 2000 pages with over 500,000 words. Who could possibly comprehend that document? Millions of people will turn those words into actions. What will be the result of those actions? Does anyone know?
I no longer trust MOST of the tens of thousands of words that I hear every day. My attempts to verify words and deeds MOSTLY results in disagreement in words and deeds. Truth is fungible these days. Interchangeable as necessary by the speaker or actor. Unverifiable by anyone.
The perversion of language, hence truth and trust suggests that our civilization is crumbling and on the brink of collapse. What will replace this global civilization, I do not know. Perhaps some local civilizations can spring up that can manage local words and deeds, some local truth that can inspire local trust. Maybe we'll just kill each other until our capacity to do so fails. But this civilization is driving right off the cliff. Ilicet!
Civilizations are nothing more than groups of people agreeing to a set of normal behavior expressed in words and deeds. If we had to rely on deeds alone, by foregoing spoken language, it would be nearly impossible to form and maintain a simple household, let alone a civilization.
Civilizations are based upon trust amongst the people within the civilization based upon the words and deeds of the members. So long as the people in a civilization can understand and agree with the ideas presented by words and confirm the words through deeds, trust and a civilization can exist. When words and deeds diverge then trust falters and civilization begins to recede.
Prior to the 20th century most humans only read or heard a few thousand words per day. The veracity of those few words could mostly be readily discerned by observation of reality or actions of the speaker. Trust was possible. Since the advent of radio, television and the internet, most people are exposed to tens of thousands of words per day. This endless barrage makes it impossible to verify the trustworthiness of words or observe the actions that result from these words. Hence trust is increasingly difficult to form or maintain.
Compounding the problem of too many words, is the proliferation of communication professionals who distort language to sell an idea, a product or a reality. Behind these public relations speakers are psychologists and lawyers who determine which words should or can be used to do the job at hand. When these professionals are done it is mostly impossible to determine truth or establish any trust. Words no longer help but hinder us.
Lately the media tells us that new unemployment claims have fallen by -22000. Ok. Fallen from what number, where and when? People want to know if the number of unemployed is falling, growing or flat. Are things getting better or worse? It seems that the government and media have twisted words to make us feel better rather than convey information that is truthful and inspires trust.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told us that the "system worked" even though a jihadi was able to set off a bomb on an aircraft. Ok. If we understand the words security, system and worked then Janet is a liar because security did NOT work on this aircraft, there was no system to prevent the jihadi from getting on the aircraft and the only thing that worked was the jihadi's plan. Janet lied and I don't trust her or our government.
The Congress has passed a Health Care reform bill that is 2000 pages with over 500,000 words. Who could possibly comprehend that document? Millions of people will turn those words into actions. What will be the result of those actions? Does anyone know?
I no longer trust MOST of the tens of thousands of words that I hear every day. My attempts to verify words and deeds MOSTLY results in disagreement in words and deeds. Truth is fungible these days. Interchangeable as necessary by the speaker or actor. Unverifiable by anyone.
The perversion of language, hence truth and trust suggests that our civilization is crumbling and on the brink of collapse. What will replace this global civilization, I do not know. Perhaps some local civilizations can spring up that can manage local words and deeds, some local truth that can inspire local trust. Maybe we'll just kill each other until our capacity to do so fails. But this civilization is driving right off the cliff. Ilicet!
posted by lugh lampfhota at 12:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home