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.
This is interesting. I like how you used the one example of the library and friend's house to make a point. I haven't ever thought about it in that way, so it's nice to see a different way to approach the text.
ReplyDeleteHi Anish, I love your detailed example of the boy and his parents. It perfectly demonstrates how ingrained this indirect speech is in our society. I think you bring up a great point by saying that this example is paradoxical: society is likely never going to change from this doublespeak since it has become second nature to most people. Overall, great insight!
ReplyDeleteNice analysis through the example. I think that today's society is all about doing things now and dealing with consequences later. Whether over spending on credit cards or procrastinating on homework assignments, this mentality is not going away any time soon, in my opinion.
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