Lately on some of the gaming "board communities," I've been seeing a disturbing trend of thought. It seems that many people believe that language is not important. And that "words can only mean something if you let it."
I don't buy it.
Language is communication. Language is the only way we as human beings can convey thoughts from one person to another. Ever try visualizing a sunset without using words? Try. The average person will most likely find words involuntarily drifting through their minds - words like "sun" and "horizon" and "clouds" and "light" and "dimming" and "orange" and "fire" ...
For humans, words and thoughts are linked. From birth, we as a species are practically hard-wired for language. Have you ever had the opportunity to observe a child, as they start the process of converting random baby-noises into language? First into words, then into sentences? It's absolutely amazing - and often under-appreciated.
Words have power, because words are the basis of language. The words you choose have power, in that they color the ideas and thoughts you're trying to convey to others. The word is the symbol, the representation of an object, a thought, an idea...
Think all this is just meaningless blather? Fine, that's your opinion - one that I personally don't agree with. And, considering how much writers, copywriters, editors, political campaigners, and advertisers make for subtly twisting words to convince people to buy this, not vote for that, watch this and protest that, I think lots of other people in this world agree that words do have power.
...but then, I'm a writer. Of course I believe in the power of language. ^_~
1 comment:
haha, as I lover of language I have to reply. Also, you know me Tala, so this is done in the spirit of harmless debate.
First off, I'll say your are right about forum posters. Most of them are completely stupid and wouldn't know proper english from a hole in the ground. That being said ignore the errors that will inevitably creep up.. ;)
Second, the statement "words can only mean something if you let it." is true in part, but I doubt in the way they mean it. I think the true heart of that statement is more that words can take another meaning entirely, through extended use and familiarity. I can point to a couple "stereotype" names that have done just this. Of course, this is with the stipulation that this has happened of hundreds of years. Something that a number of people seem to conveniently iqnore to be an ass. Funny thing is, I've recently had a conversation about this very thing. I won't go into details, as I don't want to see if a slap can reach that far. ;)
Continuing, you are right about the power of language. There is big business in everything you mentioned to do everything you mentioned. ( ;) ) But, the funny thing about that, is that is mostly aimed at people who are unaware that this is even happening. This is another great thing about language, as those who are trained it, can see the subtle plays that happen in propaganda type texts, and otherwise. Really, at most they can hope for is that enough people are shut down enough to not actually hear what is being said. This has caused a number of issues in past (and in the present, once again I won't go into that here).
So basically, I'd say youre right, and the excuse "words can only mean something if you let it" is just that, an excuse. Its almost like a free pass to be a dumbass, and pretend that you are being smart.
I'll wrap this up at with the whole point that I was going to post with initially, about the relationship to language and images. I'll agree with you that as humans we are certainly trained (and somewhat hardwired.. though that could be more of an issue with social evolution) to see images to equal words. Now, I am an artist, first and foremost, and I love it. But something that I have realized is that in my studies, I've actually trained myself, when I think of any sort of artistic idea, I see it as an image. (as a side note, I'm a black and white photographer, and I've actually started seeing the world in black and white. It's hard, but waaay crazy) I think this is fairly important, and I would argue that most artists, whether they realize it or not, think in images, because thats how we present ourselves to world. Not that this is remotely better or worse, just different. (watch commericals with the sound off, they still effective, and you'll know what they selling, and for whom.) Given this capability of an entirely different form of language, it almost seems that any one form can take over the other, for better or for worse. At this point I've lost my train of thought, so I guess I'll end with the thought that no matter the language, abuse of it will just end up with a general muddy and devaluation of the language as whole, till the whole lot means nothing at all anymore.
And then what?
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