If you’ve read anything on my blog, you already know how much words mean to me.\u00a0 If you’ve read nothing here yet, then believe me when I say they mean a great deal.<\/p>\n
Why do words matter so much?<\/p>\n
Because words have become the principle means of communication between\u00a0 humans.\u00a0 If we can’t communicate effectively then society is literally doomed. Words and their clear, unambiguous understanding are crucial to our very existence.\u00a0 Words are simply that important, yet we abuse and mistreat them.\u00a0 We choose to constantly dumb down language.\u00a0 We teach down to the lowest common denominator instead teaching up to the highest.<\/p>\n
Yes, I am well aware words are not the only means of human communication. Indeed of the many ways we talk, I believe words are one of the most flawed methods we’ve developed to let others know what we really feel.<\/p>\n
Non-verbal cues hold far greater truth than words ever can, and we don’t need to even speak the same dialect to interpret them!\u00a0 Non-verbal cues are universally, intuitively understood, need not be taught, and even the youngest understand them.\u00a0 Pitch and tone tell enormous truths that even dogs comprehend. Facial expressions hold universal meaning, not only across language barriers, but across continents, across millions of years of separated development, and even across species.\u00a0 Yes, primates and monkeys share the same fundamental facial expressions as we humans!<\/p>\n
Perhaps, if we simply took time to stop talking, we could learn to understand?<\/p>\n
However there is a very real problem with non-verbal communication. And it is this problem that makes the articulate use of words so crucial to all modern cultures.<\/p>\n
What is the problem with non-verbal communication?<\/p>\n
We no longer live in a face-to-face world.<\/p>\n
We now communicate with people over vast distances.\u00a0 This communication is always<\/em> <\/strong>via words.\u00a0 However, even when we speak to each other one-on-one via a telephone,\u00a0poor quality sound distorts intonation and strips vast quantities of truth from our voices.<\/p>\n Video chatting is quite probably worse.\u00a0 It shows an out of sync series of pictures of the person viewing the images. We can’t see the vital details that tell the real truths.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because those details are too small and happen too quickly to be conveyed in any real time video stream.\u00a0 In a video chat, a crinkle in the corner of the eye doesn’t reveal the lie.\u00a0 If it is noticed at all it confuses more than it clarifies by being out of sync with the audio stream.\u00a0 Mere hundredths of a second difference between speech and facial expression is enough to confound our ability to discern emotions and truths.<\/p>\n This means the only things<\/em><\/strong> left to ensure understanding between people, are words.<\/p>\n So when we find words being deliberately used to distort the truth, we should be offended.\u00a0 So-called Political Correctness is a prime example of truth distortion causing ripples throughout our cultures.\u00a0 Political Correctness attempts to prevent us from speaking the truth, for fear we might offend.\u00a0 Anything that prevents the dissemination of truth, whether by deliberately distorting the truth, or by actively suppressing the utterance of truth in clear unambiguous language should be deemed offensive.<\/p>\n In my opinion the two worst culprits of word abuse are religious dogma and political correctness.\u00a0 They are rampant, they are everywhere, and all of humanity is their victim.<\/p>\n And so, finally, to the prompt for this post…\u00a0 The devil dwells in the details, and over the years I’ve learnt I am troubled by eyes which discern the devil.<\/p>\n A few weeks ago we went to Kroger to buy a leg of lamb, which my talented and gracious wife would be cooking as part of a traditional Easter repast.\u00a0 We favor New Zealand Lamb, so I noticed the only available variety of lamb was from the USA. I also noticed the following wording, transcribed precisely as it appeared on the label:-<\/p>\n “BRN, RAISD, HARVSTD IN USA<\/strong>”<\/p>\n An immediate flush of irritation swept through me. The pursing of my lips and the narrowing of my eyes, two universal non-verbal cues of irritation, went unnoticed by my wife who was looking away.\u00a0 As I’ve alluded, non-verbal cues require complete and immediate attention to be understood.<\/p>\n Moving along… much as my wife and I did in the store.<\/p>\n Next purchase. Chicken thighs.\u00a0 A fairly cost effective source of protein, especially in comparison to the Lamb, which is extremely expensive.\u00a0 I notice not only the chicken’s price, but the following wording, again transcribed precisely as it appeared on the label:-<\/p>\n “Hatched, Raised and Harvested in USA<\/strong>”<\/p>\n By now my irritation has crept into my voice, which escapes in yet another non-verbal cue of irritation.\u00a0 Namely, a muffled snort.\u00a0 {Did I mention cross-species non-verbal cues?\u00a0 If I didn’t, be warned to get well away from a snorting Bull.} This time my wife notices, even though she is still looking away.<\/p>\n So what, precisely, is it that offended me in the labeling of those two products?\u00a0 The first label violates many conventions.\u00a0 It has striped most of the vowels, not bothered with capitalization, and rendered the statement virtually meaningless by doing so.\u00a0 Does “BRN” mean born, or barn? I’m reasonably confident “RAISD” means raised, but only reasonably. As for “HARVSTD”, well I am really hoping it doesn’t mean the lamb has been infected with a Harvard developed Sexually Transmitted Disease, which is what the acronym “STD” means back in Africa.<\/p>\n So, you may think it is the butchering of language in the first label that I find so offensive.\u00a0 You would be a little correct. However you’d also be a lot incorrect.<\/p>\n What truly offends me {I am being completely serious, I really am offended!} is the presumption that I, along with every other customer, is the uneducated idiot both labels imply.<\/p>\n