Today we (the English speaking world) stand at the epicentre of a cultural crisis caused by the obscure and misleading language that is currently prevailing throughout society.
You may be thinking that it is a touch melodramatic to cite a cultural crisis based on the words we use with each other. However, once you take a look at how our language has evolved and continues to do so. You will see that subtle shifts in meaning are shaping society in unarguable ways.
Encoding Meaning
Have you ever sent, or have been just about to send, a text whereby you suddenly realise that your words could be taken a different way?
For example:
On my way, get dinner on now.
If you said those exact words to your partner in a phone call, those words may be perfectly acceptable. This is because the intonation in your voice would make it obvious to the receiver of those words, that you were not being rude.
However taken out of context, the text may sound rude or cold, especially in a new relationship, or maybe because of an argument that had happened recently.
On my way, get dinner on now xx.
This sounds better as the kisses at the end signify some warmth, however perhaps it is still a little direct.
On my way! Get dinner on now! xx.
Just by use of exclamation marks, you are now conveying excitement as well as warmth.
On my way! 😍 Get dinner on now! 🥂😁😘 xx.
So finally, without changing the words, by adding just two characters, some punctuation and emojis, we have insured there is no ambiguity within our message. This is simply because the words on their own, whilst clear in meaning, are not so in their intent.
Even simple words and phrases can be ambiguous in their intent. For instance the use of the words, get, and now are command words. So even if you and your partner agreed that they would start cooking dinner upon receiving your text. Without context, the message could still be construed as an order.
Reverse Psychology
In some cases the true meaning of the message is reversed to its complete opposite! For example if for some reason at your next job interview you are lead into an empty room with nothing but a desk, chair and a big red button on the wall, and a note above the button saying:
DO NOT PUSH THE RED BUTTON
If you're like most people, the longer you stayed in that room, the greater your urge to press the button would be, until you finally cracked and pressed it.
Oops.
PUSHING THE RED BUTTON CAUSES IMMEDIATE DEATH
How about now? Maybe the urge isn't there immediately, but what about after an hour in the room? You would start to wonder if it was a test of some sort; 'Obviously they wouldn't allow such a dangerous thing, it's clearly a lie. To hell with it, I'm pressing that button!'
Hmmm.
PRESSING THE RED BUTTON RELEASES CARBON MONOXIDE INTO THE ROOM WHICH WILL KILL YOU IN SECONDS. DO NOT PRESS WITHOUT PROPER BREATHING APPARATUS!
I don't know about you, but my urge to press that red button has completely disappeared. Only to be replaced by a confusion as to why anyone would rig up such a dangerous system in the first place.
The Subtle Art Of Misspeaking
We can laugh at the silly little thought experiment above, however there are real life examples similar to this, that have caused hundreds of people to die.
Hundreds of Americans a year were dying when the manufacturers of certain generators had the following warning:
Mild exposure to CO can result in accumulated damage over time. Extreme exposure to CO may rapidly be fatal without producing significant warning symptoms.
Rather less people died because of using their generators indoors when the warning was changed to.
Using a generator indoors CAN KILL YOU IN MINUTES.
Speech Encoding
So far we have discussed written language, with spoken words of course we have no problem conveying emotion to the people we are speaking to. We have a whole arsenal of communication weapons at our command. From facial expressions, to body language, to vocal intonation, they all help us give meaning to the words we speak.
The problem arises when the words we are using start to shift meaning, because when that happens, there is no memo or email to catch up on, no news report informing everyone of the changes, therefore not everyone is aware of the new meaning.
There is no doubt that language evolves along with society, as time moves on some words are phased out while others change meaning. Sometimes meaning changes can be subtle, at others they are stark.
For instance the change in the meaning of the word literally. It is entirely common for people to use the word literally when they actually (literally) mean figuratively.
This misuse of just this one word has spawned an entire movement A.W.F.U.L, Americans Who Figuratively Use Literally.
With this example we have almost all come to accept that literally, no longer means actually, it means figuratively. So when somebody says; "My head literally exploded!" They do not mean that they lost their head in an explosion and somehow managed to get a new one so that they could tell you of the incident. They mean they were excited, angry, outraged, stunned, flabbergasted, stupefied, or incredibly impressed with something or someone.
Even though some people think that this is a term that is changing because of the millennial generation. There are examples going back hundreds of years. At some point society decided to swap the meanings of figuratively and literally.
What is interesting with this word, is that its meaning was influenced by popular culture, from the 17th century poet John Dryden to the Bronte sisters and many more between used the word literally in the way we do today.
Cultural War
Back to the present day, and the latest cultural war between groups of people who consider themselves either left wing or right wing has reached a deafening crescendo.
In America it can be defined by people who support their president, Donald J. Trump, and those who do not. However this is just the minor skirmish that delineates the true battlegrounds.
The current cultural war is being waged across social media. With Youtube and facebook, representing the main killing fields. It is here that we see the current crisis of understanding unfolding in front of our very eyes.
Whether it be an original post or the comment sections below, the language we use towards each other is causing division. It would seem that the main reason for this is the rapid change in meaning that a word or phrase can go through when fed into the social media mangle.
For instance, calling someone a Nazi today is completely different to saying it fifty years ago. In fact there are all different types of Nazis now. From grammar Nazis to femi-Nazis.
A lot of these differences stem from the fact that we live in different places and those places reflect our use of language.
So in England a liberal is somebody who is laid back and fairly anti-authoritarian. In America it means (or is becoming to mean) a frothing communist.
Again in England the word feminist describes a person that cares for the rights of women and does not subscribe to oppressive sexist views. In America the word is beginning to represent a person who is completely and utterly unreasonable and will make everything a sexist issue.
Crisis Of Context
As mentioned above, when the meaning of words change there is no meeting whereby everyone is informed of the changes. This creates confusion, which ultimately leads to conflict.
For example, I was once called a fascist for telling someone that I was 100% sure that the earth was not flat. In another example I was called racist for explaining to my then 6 year old daughter, that some women felt that they had to hide their faces in public, because they feared an angry old man in the sky.
In both of these scenarios I tried in vain to explain that my accusers were not understanding the context of those words. I even gave them a couple of other labels they could place me under, in the end, tired of their abuse I simply blocked them.
It is not just from personal experience that I have witnessed this crisis of context, whereby one person accuses someone of being something. Then the other person takes offence because they believe their accuser means something entirely different.
I see it practically everyday on the internet, people battling with each other, getting angry and retreating further into their own fixed mindsets.
This I believe is why we're all so polarised at the moment. The left and the right are pulling further and further away from each other as the language they use becomes more obscure. This leaves us in an untenable situation whereby we just stop talking to people who disagree with us, choosing instead to communicate via insults encoded into memes.
Navigating The Lion's Den
The only solution to our current malaise is for individuals to take responsibility and go and actively engage with people whom you disagree with.
Finding opinions that are not aligned with your own is possibly easier than it has ever been before. Simply go to Youtube and type in a sentence that you fundamentally disagree with and watch the resulting videos. Then pop on down to the comment section and ask a fan of the video to explain their position.
This of course can be done anywhere there is a comment section, just remember to refrain from hurling insults. If you yourself are insulted, ask the person to explain what they mean.
By doing this you are holding people accountable for what they say, and making sure that they truly understand the meaning of the things they are saying.
If we can manage to do this as a society, we can be pulled back from the extremes we are being pushed to at the moment, ending up somewhere near the middle. This is important as the middle is where progress is made, it is the point at which humankind can excel and shine. The extreme ends are where stagnation, desperation and war occur.
Let's start today, let us face the cultural crisis head on. To steal a popular phrase, let's make the globe great again.
Further reading:
The 300-Year History of Using ‘Literally’ Figuratively - The Cut
Title image: ian dooley on Unsplash
