The Unidentifiable Power of Words

Words are powerful artifacts of thought. We have all been subjected to compliments as well as slurs. Our minds can differentiate vulgarity, from phony flattery, from shouts of panic, from tomes of literature.

We understand there are red, hot push-button words that most of the civilized world attempts to avoid -- not always with great success.

Words can cover our minds, allowing us to be transported to other times and even other worlds. But, at the same time, words can work like an alarm bell, shutting off all other circutry and reduce us to some kind of killing beast.

Words can injure and they can heal.

Unlike fencing lessons, the skill of using words as a torrent of bile can be learned anywhere -- even on the corner across the street from the neighborhood high school.

Naturally, one would hope that officials in high appointments or elected offices would be infused with more self-control and use words with the utmost care. Unfortunately, they do not.

There are probably several dozen words (when heard spoken) that make our ears perk up. These key words are used to psychologically represent a state of an individual mind or even the state of a nation.

This kind of reductionism is extremely dangerous, yet we see it being used on a daily basis throughout the media. Politicians have a habit of sticking labels on people and events, regardless of accuracy/inaccuracy.

The label usually consists of some kind of spin word that sticks in people's minds with the intent of denigrating their opponent. If a politician can get enough of the inflammatory stickers to hold on, then a psychological transformation can occur within the populace. The candidate with all the labels (or the best labels) is the one to most likely fail in their bid for office.

The best examples of these are the labels the republican party managed to stick onto John Kerry and Michael Dukakis. I'm not picking sides, but the republican machinery clearly used the tiniest flaw(s) about either candidate and made them into labels, which then ascended into issues -- instead of the politics of the present time.

Human beings have a natural need to categorize and compartmentalize our environment. As the world becomes more and more complex, we rely more and more on breaking down our flood of information into quickly identifiable code. As an example we use a lot of icons to represent various software and utilities on our computers. Road signs seem to be relying more on icons than written words. Our survival depends on intellects that can read the necessary complexity inherent in the code. Much of the code is not brilliantly conceived.

This is one reason why fascist states always round up the intelligentsia for quick imprisonment or elimination. Knowledge is indeed power. Subtract knowledge from the equation and the "state" merely has to mesmerize the lowest common denominator with slogans and transparent propaganda. Americans don't have the time to compare articles as published by foreign media on the Internet. This lack of multiple inputs is how segregation is formulated. If all one does is listen to channel "A", without bothering to analyze its content from channels "B", "C", "D", etc., the individual becomes inoculated against outside arguments and multiple points of view.

We are truly living in dangerous times because the flow of information is beyond the capacity for any individual to consume. The deluge of data is so overwhelming that many individuals simply choose to dial into nothing more than a single "channel," allowing this frequency to become a surrogate intellectual analysis.

As the channels become more finely tuned, less brain work is required of the individual, and polarization can reach an impenetrable mass -- to the point where entropy wins the day.

People who are incapable of sober contemplation are not comfortable with shades of gray. They want/need to exist in a black and white world. Where there is a niche (barricaded with slogans). Eventually, all niches will be ferreted out (however gradually but persistently) until the revered schism is finally updated to yet another stony igloo of misbegotten beliefs.

It's frightening to think that where the lay person in this country once looked upon intellect as a blessing, it is now often regarded as a form of antagonism, arrogance, and misplaced superiority. This harbored resentment will even cause them to vote for a party and candidate who least represents their immediate concerns and beliefs.

For them, they will wait until that young man from Kansas will stop feeding the farm animals and realize that important change can only come from the hard work of politics. The US is essentially begging for a straight, incorruptible, purveyor of truth and justice to sweep these lands.

People who are incapable of sober contemplation are not comfortable with shades of gray. They want/need to exist in a black and white world -- where there is a niche (protected with the chain mail of stubborness). Eventually, all niches will be ferreted out (however gradually but persistently) until the revered schism is finally updated to yet another stony igloo of misbegotten beliefs.

It's frightening to think that where the lay person in this country once looked upon intellect as a blessing, it is now often regarded as a form of antagonism, arrogance, and misplaced superiority. This harbored resentment will even cause them to vote for a party and candidate who least represents their immediate concerns and beliefs. For them, they will wait until that young man from Kansas will stop feeding the farm animals and realize that important change can only come from the hard work of politics. The US is essentially begging for a straight, incorruptible, purveyor of truth and justice to sweep these lands.