WORDS ARE THINGS
“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.” (Maya Angelou)
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Have you noticed lately, especially on facebook, and well- on the news commentary and of course on the part of some politicians and — especially one in particular- there are some “words” being said.
They seem to be carefully selected, Selected to hurt, to hurl, to punch in the gut, to demean and to dehumanize.
Our President leads the way deeming Policies and Progress and People who are not him or his sycophants Horrible, Bad, Very Bad, Sad , Crooked, Obstructionists and in need of face lifts or bleeding from them.
Facebook “friends” and fellow human beings, most who don’t know each other and never will, call each other Pathetic, Idiots, Fucking idiots, Sick, Mentally Ill, Monsters in public forums
Labeling, judgment and blame as a means of discourse has become epidemic, regardless of whether we espouse hate and divisiveness or love and unity.
This also starts at the top these days. Labeling that conveniently puts people in one derogatory descriptor or another that serves only to separate and dehumanize. Immigrant, Commie, Obstructionist, Left, Alt-left, Liberal. Nazis, Bigots. Misogynists, Racists, White supremacists, Alt right, and Evil and other slurs that I choose not to repeat but I think you know what they are.
All these words that “He” says and “They” say and “We” say to others and about others are “things”.
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“Words are things….They get on the wallpaper, your upholstery your rug.. and finally into you” as the late great Maya Angelou said.
These words that wound, these “things” dominate our collective conversation these days.
This is the level of political discourse to which our country has devolved.
Some may think wars of words are more benign than those of physical might. Or maybe a protection of free speech. But I disagree. “Words are things, they get on the walls and finally into you”.
If anyone believes we are not at civil war yet, I say you are wrong.
We are at the most insidiously dangerous kind of war between brothers both as a nation and as a human race. A war of our soul. A war that uses words as weapons as mighty as a stealth bomber and cares little of its impact except to prove one’s own illusionary superiority, perhaps to assuage our fear as well.
Stop it I say. Not because I am preachy or holier than thou. But because I do it too. In my own quiet, mumbling ways there is a stance I take and words I use, justifying them because they are righteous and good.
What if we just stop it. Take a look at our walls, and upholstery and rug and see — Is it dirty? Is it clean? And then take a look at yourself and see has it gotten into you?
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