The Meaning Within Me

These days, our society is full of an intertwined web of speech that no one can understand. Steven Pinker states in his short story, “Words Don't Mean What They Mean", that "when people talk, they lay lines on each other, do a lot of role playing, side step, shilly-shally, and engage in a manner of vagueness and innuendo." If we put this reality aside and instead focus on a more paradoxical view regarding our society, what would happen if words truly mean what they mean? For example, let us take a common example of a boy and his parents. The boy really wants to go to his friend’s house, but he knows that his parents will not let him because his final exams are coming up. If we live in today's reality, the boy would ask his parents if he is allowed to go to the library to "study". In our case, we know what he really means because the boy's "studying" is his idealized version of "playing”. Of course, his parents cannot recognize this and they let him go. In contrast, the paradoxical view is the boy asking his parents if he can actually go to his friend’s house to play video games. Obviously, the parents will say no. Now let us weigh in on the consequences. In the world we live in today, the kid will go to his friend’s house to play video games. Clearly, his final exam grade will not look good and cause his parents to question what their son was actually doing. There is no way for the boy to hide the truth and he confesses that he went to his friend’s house. The result for the boy will be getting grounded for the foreseeable future. In our paradoxical world, the boy will be disgruntled that he is not allowed to go, but will study and receive a good grade with no punishment. So, which choice is really better? Would you lose out on the chance to miss having fun during your childhood to study, or would you have fun and face the consequences later. Although this might seem like a very obvious choice for some, the answers are surprisingly split in our society. Although most people will pick the first choice, this is the paradoxical view that nobody in our society follows. Even though it might hold true for this specific situation, it does not in the long run. It is inevitable that one will slip away from this viewpoint for whatever reason such as dignity, embarrassment or friendship.  

  

The Words Within Me

Every day in today's society, we hear hateful speech from every corner of our lives. When we go to watch TV, it is inevitable to see a news reporter spewing biased facts toward a cause. Moreover, even when walking to the grocery shop, we hear hateful words coming out of people's mouth due to an argument that has reduced the betterment of those people's lives. The point is that every day we hear these horrid comments and we cannot help but feel sorrow for the people receiving them. What can we do? If we see someone on the side of the road getting yelled at and try to intervene to make the problem better, the result would only worsen as the angry person would lash out at us too. Although Michiko Kakutani infers in "The Word Police" that these tiny specs of hate should be left ignored because it loses sight of the bigger problems at hand, I see an alternative picture. For example, as she says that "calling the homeless the under housed doesn't give them a place to live", her point is that the feelings of others won't help impact society in any way so it is better to ignore them. Although homeless might not be too harsh because it has been the accepted term in society for many years, other words will have a great impact on people which will disrupt the cohesion in fixing society's bigger problems. If someone constantly harasses you with certain terms to criticize you because you are poor, they will affect you every day. This will impact your motivation to benefit society. Why would you help the same society that is putting you down and making life miserable? It is not one person that receives this treatment but thousands and maybe even millions. A portion so large that is questioning whether or not to help society will keep the big problems in the society at large. If people at least adopt some politically correct words that are actually needed, then it could help motivate the people who are doubtful toward society to realize that society is deserving of these changes.