Originally posted by guanyu
A lofty goal considering the constant assault on our ability to communicate from the top at all times.
Think of all the neologisms of our era, the two most egregious being the redefinition of the word terro rist and the invention of the concept of WMDs. Words nonexistent in colloquial conversation before the advent of neoconservatism.
I share your dream and I recommend you check out Xun Tzu's philosophy on "the rectification of names." Fascinating stuff, the manipulation of language, and oddly enough, jared lee loughner's primary area of interest...
I find it somewhat awe inspiring that we've found ourselves in a place where just to get to "baseline" understanding is a lofty goal.
It's an impossible goal because of course the moment one word has been defused another is ready to take its place. So the only tangible effect is to slowly influence others in ways that they begin to inherently see through all words/names/labels on their own rather than just specific ones while still recognizing there is an underlying "unf" that is consistent regardless of the metaphors used to describe.
Once someone sees that words are literally magic spells, then it is impossible to ever go back.
Speak a magic incantation and *POOF* "terrorists" have been conjured all around us. Phantasms and Ghosts and Spirits oh my! If people "felt" what it was like early in language development when we were much more visually oriented in our thinking... we would understand that there was a time in our history where a skillful word craftsman could *literally* conjure a mental image in a person's head without them understanding the ephemeral nature of it vs what is actually in front of them.
So all the tales of "they cast a curse on me!" become much more tangible and understandable... in the way that the ability to say "TERRORIST" and the nervous reactions now will seem "silly" down the road. Hopefully, haha. Same tricks, different day.
Kind of the whole "Don't think of an elephant" thing which for most people "conjures" an elephant in their mind's eye.
Vanity alert: I find this not being as effective on me anymore... which is both good and bad. Good because it's easier to see through the games being played, bad because for those who the "magic spell" still works on... they truly can't understand why you don't see what they see.
Will eagerly read your references.
edit on 18-2-2013 by ErgoTheConclusion because: (no reason given)
<3 
