I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of words. There has been so much eloquent writing about the world situation in the last few months, writing that has sustained me through some tough times. The internet, and weblogs in particular, allow many more people to express their opinions to the world than has ever been possible in human history. With all this discourse, you would think we would be able to see our commonalities, to work together for common goals. And yet, as Arthur pointed out, in this country we’re more polarized than ever before. We’re just shouting past one another. Words seem only to divide and harden, and increasingly, actions seem to be all that matter. I used to think that writing about the war was therapy for me; now it just seems like lancing a boil that won’t stop draining.
The world of Patrick Henry and Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, a world where words mattered, where words could change the course of human history, seems very far away. Maybe it’s just because the noise level is so high – surfing the internet is like taking a drink from a firehose, and when you add satellite TV, radio, magazines and all the rest, it’s hard not to feel buried. But I don’t think that completely explains it. Do words still matter? I don’t know, but I hope so. I hope so.
Words matter, even when they don’t change the world. Without words,
1. I would never have known the what the Tonkin incident was, let alone that it was fabricated.
2. I would not hear more than one side of the story.
3. I would not hear about opportunities to demonstrate for peace or stand up for my values.
We are all entranced by the words of a certain set of people. It’s frustrating when they’re the “wrong” people, whatever the definition of wrong is to us.
The real challenge right now is to get past the chest beating. Underneath all the bluster, I am convinced there is common ground, at least enough to save the US from self-destructing. We need a REALLY patient facilitator.
Words don’t always do the trick with stubborn/irrational/evil people. In those times, we have to keep our wits, be creative and patient, and stay true to our values. We have to make sure we keep listening so we don’t become one of them.
I don’t think it’s simply the noise level, because I remember living in this world as a child when cable was still a novelty and the internet was just for your egghead friends.
Part of the blame has to go to the school system; many people are no longer capable of creating or comprehending complex arguments. These people respond to sophistry and don’t inquire deeply about the truth of premises. The news sources have figured this out and simplified their output to the point where no one can be truly persuaded anymore, just beaten into submission regarding points they don’t really understand. (Only Fox, though, has taken full advantage of the format by alternating naked partisan rants with near-nakedness, ensuring full attention and zero consideration.)
The people who know better and might permit themselves to be persuaded have locked up their minds in protest. We for the most part don’t hear the opinions we might disagree with, and when we do, we wave them away in irritation.
Maybe we could call this the Post-Reason Age.
Prolixity and effect are often found in an inverse proportion.
Words matter some. They are not worthless; they will not solve all our problems.
I think that words matter far less than ideas. There are more of the former these days, and less of the latter.
Words matter. The problem might be that words still don’t matter enough. We only see this drastically opposed polarity – The war is good versus the war is evil. If anything, we need to realize that as always, there is gray area, and that is when the opinions of the masses come in.
Have hope. I see words being exchanged in rooms on campus and in roundtables and across cafeteria fare and over cubicle walls. I see a broad body of young people who are ill-informed, some satisfied with ignorance, but better, other searching for truth through a variety of means. Words are our only hope.
Whether or not you feel your words make a difference on a personal level, the truth is on a large level, they both matter immensely and are not heard. Face it: Most of what we say is read by small groups of people. We do not influence the decisions that are made in offices on Pennsylvania Avenue. And yet, it matters immensely because we are exercising our freedom of opinion. It is important to have an opinion, and to question, and to learn.
Maybe it’s not even that you need to write about the war, or the conflict, or anything. Maybe it’s just the ability to put your words out on paper (or a screen) and to have an opinion. Words are not salvation, but they are not worthless. Maybe their potency has just been lost by the tidal wave of opinions that you feel is coming at you. But it’s better to have a multitude of beliefs in diluted form than none at all.
I have to agree with Arthur. Words tell me things that I need to know. Without words, whether spoken, written, or read, I would be nothing.
Some of us search out alternate theories or ideas, some of us don’t. That seems to be the way humanity is, has been, and always will be.
Concerning this war, yes, for the most part we are preaching to the choir. But sometimes, we need that.
If it wasn’t for your blog, other blogs and other alternate sources of information, I’m not sure where I would be. I’m not sure that I would have the confidence to speak out. Or that I would care because I might think I was the only one thinking this way.
Words are an outlet for frustration and a rally cry for hope.
Words comfort me and alert me to danger.
Words mean things because they open up our inner thoughts for the world to see. And really, our thoughts are the only things we really, truly, own.
Counter to the tide of pessimism above, I posit that words matter more now than they ever have in the course of human history. (I apologize in advance for the wicked long rant.)
Disproving the null hypothesis:
If words didn?t matter. . .
We wouldn?t care, let alone undertake discourse analysis of, what the president says.
Newspapers would give up reporting and just sell advertisements and the weather forecast. There?d be no headlines, just pictures. No one would have the title ?Writer? or ?Author?.
If words didn?t matter. . .
We wouldn?t bother with literacy, let alone have bitter conflicts over how to increase it.
Our country wouldn?t be in a frenzy when email servers go down.
The label ?English Language Learner? wouldn?t be a predictor of ability or success.
If words didn?t matter. . .
All music would be instrumental.
There wouldn?t be ?banned books? lists.
They wouldn?t illicit a response, be it disgust, irritation or exasperation.
Eminem wouldn?t be a household name.
Finally. . .
If words didn?t matter, we wouldn?t fight for our right to express them. And we sure as hell wouldn?t send 300,000 young men to a foreign desert and allow them to die fighting for other people?s right to literacy and self-expression. (Don?t bother to flame-mail me on this issue, I?ve heard all the ?It?s only about oil? arguments and still disagree.) =)
Proving the alternative hypothesis:
All this leads me to believe then, that words DO matter.
Today, there are a lot more words to sort through. The prevalence of words in our society creates a cacophony that wasn?t present when Lincoln jotted the Gettysburg Address on a cocktail napkin on the train to that cemetery in Pennsylvania. More messages will be published this year than any other year in the history of recorded time.
What were the key publications/speeches/books/etc. that shaped the first one hundred and twenty-five years of our country? (Take a minute to jot down all the ones you can think of.) What were the key publications/speeches/books/etc. that shaped America over the course of the past ten years? (Take a minute to write those down.) The hundreds of juts and turns we make today may be more subtle, but are they really less potent?
Words. Matter.
Interesting observation: African Americans, who were largely banned from words and mass literacy until the early 1970s, have since given birth to the traditions of rap and hip hop. Even if you?re not a fan of those word-laden genres, I encourage you to dig deeper into the sea of lyrics and messages. There is little one can do to deny the power of their words. Those artists often speak to how words create barriers or access keys to social mobility, security, and survival.
True, people don?t follow a single select group of orators today. Instead, I argue, factions of people clump together through common experiences with words, and common beliefs in messages presented, meanwhile distancing themselves from other words/messages. An illustration ? goths. What music groups do they listen to? What books do they read? What political leaders do they support? How does all that differ from what words/messages/leaders members of the Christian right follow?
Words. Matter.
To rebut Mike?s comment that schools no longer teach people to comprehend complex arguments, I point out that they still produce the same five articulate students capable of wielding words that they always have. However, that?s not as acceptable today as it was in decades like the 50s when as a nation we deemed entire races unworthy of access to words.
Words. Matter.
While Melissa is usually my west coast twin, I scream my dissonance toward the view that we do not influence Pennsylvania Avenue. This is America. We are Pennsylvania Avenue. If what?s coming out of our statehouses doesn?t reflect us, we damn well better be running for office. You can be sure that word wielders are the ones who get there. (And if you?re of the view that money is the only way people get there, ask yourself how they drove in that money. If it?s old money, trace it back.) Look at the myriad of positions controlling your local surroundings ? what?s being driven, by whom, and how? Those who control the messages, control the power. It?s true in families, churches, schools, companies, neighborhoods, and nations.
Words. Matter.
And Rev, you said yourself that words you?ve read in recent weeks have sustained you through some difficult times. That matters. It changes the world. You see, without you being who you are, I would not be who I am, nor would the concentric circles of people we affect or the people they impact. It?s a ripple effect. If words can talk me back from the edge, give me the strength to face another day, or quiet a torrent of tears, I know words matter.
“The words of the true poems give you more than poems,
They give you to form for yourself poems, religions, politics, war, peace, behavior, histories, essays, daily life, and every thing else,
They balance ranks, colors, races, creeds, and the sexes,
They do not seek beauty, they are sought,
Forever touching them or close upon them follows beauty, longing, fain, love-sick.
They prepare for death, yet are they not the finish, but rather the outset,
They bring none to his or her terminus or to be content and full, Whom they take they take into space to behold the birth of stars, to learn one of the meanings,
To launch off with absolute faith, to sweep through the ceaseless rings and never be quiet again.”
Someone told me that, post 9/11, she’d been on a path to hatred until she considered some things I’d written on my blog back then. Maybe my words don’t matter much overall, but they mattered strongly to someone once. That knowledge keeps me plugging away.
Words matter. Too much sometimes. What separates “Israelis” and “Palestinians” but a couple of words? And a bunch of words in two old smelly books.
Words make Sentences, and Sentences make Paragraphs!
Words by themselves are hollow. Overused they become even more so. But a good writer can make words come alive and dance around the primitive fire of our emotions, feeding the flames and painting magical shadows on the cave wall of our universe. Words are the only tool we have to speak to our small clan of cavedwellers, making their hearts finally beat as one.
Words retell the story of the hunt and they inspire our clan to hunt. Words spark love as well as hate. Words offer comfort as well as insult. Words still have the power to share ideas, to start and end revolutions.
It is my firm belief that part of the reason we are where we are today – at war and at odds with the world – is because words failed us. We misused them or we didn’t use them. We offered no kind words. We crafted no well-reasoned arguments. We shook our fist and spouted empty rhetoric. We became nothing more than a school yard bully calling names and twisting arms, believing that the louder we cry, the truer our call. The opposition became nothing more than a misinformed preacher standing at the street corner screaming at passers by, occasionally whispering about conspiracies and damnation. We abused our words. We’ve given them power they shouldn’t have (Freedom Fries) and taken away power they should have. We have forgotten that words are all that will be left when we’re gone. Words are all that we will pass to the generations that follow so that they may know what we stood for, what we fought for, and what we may have died for.