Politics and culture have long fought over language. Language itself has been the instrument used to conduct those contests. Rhetoric was the most powerful tool of rule and law in ancient Greece. Writing’s origins were to track stuff that belonged to rulers and gods, the power and exploits of rulers and gods, articulate the rules set forth by rulers and gods, or conjure the power of rulers and gods. The earliest form of western education was structured around the ‘trivium,’ or three subjects: grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
Apr 21, 2023·edited Apr 21, 2023Liked by Jim Meskauskas, Joey Dumont
Great article! We have gotten bogged down in semantic virtue signalling instead of directly helping real people in real ways. Which I think is kinda the point. Compelled speech is one of the last nails in the coffin of healthy, free flowing human interaction. If I have to over think every single word out of my mourh, then I am going to avoid talking deeply about anything with anyone. This PC language shit has created a time wasting nightmare in every single system we rely on for survival. Our local County Council which meets only twice a month, for a two hour session; wasted over 30 minutes fighting over whether the code to allow public breast feeding should say chest feeding for women or persons. They spent more time on that craziness than on how to deal with our ever worsening homeless problem! The world is literally falling apart at the seems and we are worried about correct pronoun usage?
Appreciate you being fair handed in your critique of the problem. Got a chuckle out of the 'Embassy of Frenchness'! And well I am still a woman, not a walking chest feeding vagina and anyone who does not like that can just kiss my non gender specific cervix if they dare!
This is another enlightening and thought-provoking article! The topic is one I consider often because language is often used to exclude and oppress. I’ve worked with underprivileged people for many years and when those in power use language and ideas that have been created for the elite, we reinforce the the lesser than narrative. Everyone in helping professions should read this article!
Hi Rebecca. Thanks for your kind words and insightful comments. What's so interesting about the current battles over language is that they aren't being fought between regular folks or the front line. They are being fought largely by competing elite interests.
So much to love in this post by my erudite friend, Jim. You had me at “Word made flesh,” a godly acknowledgement that a stone tablet of commandments failed to command sufficient attention. Thus, walking the talk. Agree there’s too much bending over backwards to say what we mean, and we on “the left” (another nebulous term) need to rethink the empowerment of language. Cheers to you. Martini now, run in the morning!
Thank you so so much, Lasley. Your opinion means a lot to me. I agree, "the left" is nebulous and I think tries to wrap too many identities into one place, while at the same time making the criteria to belong too specific. Can I be religious AND pro-choice AND like guns AND not have a problem with drag shows? If so, where do I belong? "The Left" and "the Right" don't leave a lot of quarter for people who aren't exactly either.
So many people like to refer -- incorrectly -- to Occam’a razor when confront with complexity, quipping “the simplest explanation is usually the most likely.” But Occam didn’t say that and what he did say doesn’t mean that. But by defaulting to that incorrectly understood axiom, it gives license to be lazy when dealing with other people. Easier to label someone a MAGA extremist who likes guns or has questions about transgenderism; or a person who wants guns off the street and likes drag shows as a radical leftist. Believing that the simplest explanation is usually the right one is a rejection of the genuine complexity that is the world.
Great article! We have gotten bogged down in semantic virtue signalling instead of directly helping real people in real ways. Which I think is kinda the point. Compelled speech is one of the last nails in the coffin of healthy, free flowing human interaction. If I have to over think every single word out of my mourh, then I am going to avoid talking deeply about anything with anyone. This PC language shit has created a time wasting nightmare in every single system we rely on for survival. Our local County Council which meets only twice a month, for a two hour session; wasted over 30 minutes fighting over whether the code to allow public breast feeding should say chest feeding for women or persons. They spent more time on that craziness than on how to deal with our ever worsening homeless problem! The world is literally falling apart at the seems and we are worried about correct pronoun usage?
Appreciate you being fair handed in your critique of the problem. Got a chuckle out of the 'Embassy of Frenchness'! And well I am still a woman, not a walking chest feeding vagina and anyone who does not like that can just kiss my non gender specific cervix if they dare!
This is another enlightening and thought-provoking article! The topic is one I consider often because language is often used to exclude and oppress. I’ve worked with underprivileged people for many years and when those in power use language and ideas that have been created for the elite, we reinforce the the lesser than narrative. Everyone in helping professions should read this article!
Hi Rebecca. Thanks for your kind words and insightful comments. What's so interesting about the current battles over language is that they aren't being fought between regular folks or the front line. They are being fought largely by competing elite interests.
So much to love in this post by my erudite friend, Jim. You had me at “Word made flesh,” a godly acknowledgement that a stone tablet of commandments failed to command sufficient attention. Thus, walking the talk. Agree there’s too much bending over backwards to say what we mean, and we on “the left” (another nebulous term) need to rethink the empowerment of language. Cheers to you. Martini now, run in the morning!
Thank you so so much, Lasley. Your opinion means a lot to me. I agree, "the left" is nebulous and I think tries to wrap too many identities into one place, while at the same time making the criteria to belong too specific. Can I be religious AND pro-choice AND like guns AND not have a problem with drag shows? If so, where do I belong? "The Left" and "the Right" don't leave a lot of quarter for people who aren't exactly either.
Yep! Complicated is too complicated for too many...yet complicated is who and what we are!
So many people like to refer -- incorrectly -- to Occam’a razor when confront with complexity, quipping “the simplest explanation is usually the most likely.” But Occam didn’t say that and what he did say doesn’t mean that. But by defaulting to that incorrectly understood axiom, it gives license to be lazy when dealing with other people. Easier to label someone a MAGA extremist who likes guns or has questions about transgenderism; or a person who wants guns off the street and likes drag shows as a radical leftist. Believing that the simplest explanation is usually the right one is a rejection of the genuine complexity that is the world.
Escellent! Very well said.