The Importance of correct language
Language in itself is very complicated, especially for those who listen to words but have no idea of the contextual usage. You could have for example a very articulate person with very bad ideas who can put their ideas across in what seems to be clear language but is simply veiled danger and I hope to demonstrate what I mean throughout this article.
Example 1: Several Meanings
If we choose a simple word at random, we will find many definitions and meta definitions of those words, deeper than that, different expressions of the same word have entirely different meanings based on what was said, who said it, how it was said, was it written, was it simple or complex, was it scientific or religious and thousands of other ways. To be able to survive today's political maze, you need to understand this because the worst ideas, like for example political correctness have to deepest impact on your lives, and it is you that allows it to keep going through the neglect of language.
“All” men have XY chromosomes, what do I mean by that? Do I mean 100% of those who fall under the category of “men” have XY chromosomes, or am I speaking in scientific terms, using the word “all” as a general term to mean most, to create an exceptional rule? According to the online version of Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first adjective definition is “The whole amount, quantity, or extent of”, once you understand that you have a little better understanding of scientific research that makes what you assume to be far-reaching comments you could easily dismiss as “extreme” palatable once again, you can now see that when I used the word “all” I was referring to the “extent of” which means the range or the majority.
Example 2: Cloaked Language
I am going to give you an example of a very misused word, one that within political discourse could have several meanings, like the word “all” but is far more complex in its ability to deceive, and that word is “equality”. When most people think of equality, it brings wonderful thoughts of fairness, but do not be fooled, equality does not equal fairness most of the time not in today's world of cloaked language.
Equality can be used to describe for example “equal opportunity”, but these days it is far more likely to mean “equal outcomes”, the second word in both of these phrases is known as a “modifier” because it changes the meaning of the first word, most people would agree that equal opportunity is a good thing, to make sure that no matter what your background, you are entitled to the same opportunities that others are as long as you have earned the right to have that opportunity, no one is excluded from that rule. “Equal outcomes” on the other hand wants to make sure that no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, no matter the work you put in, you are not entitled to any more than the people who did not work as hard, or do as much because the most important thing is that at the end of the day, we are all “equal”.
You could ask at this point, why are equal outcomes bad, if everyone ends up equal, what is wrong with that and the response would be that firstly, you cannot make everyone equal unless you are oppressing some, unless you tell them “You must give up some of your wages and give it to them even though you’ve done more hours or worked harder, you are not entitled to more than the other person” that is the point you are stealing someone else’s labour, they worked hard for that money, now you want to steal it back just because you think it is justified to under the name of “equality”.
The second reason equal outcome is a bad idea is that it is impossible to implement, even with the strictest authoritarian rule. I am different from you, you are different from me, we have different abilities and we have all had different experiences, we all have different knowledge, some are better at thinking, others better at building things, this some something you cannot remove even under the thumb of a communist dictatorship. This makes us have unique life experiences and unique skills, it makes some better than others it enables us to have diverse societies that can fill all levels of job and equal outcome wants to destroy that, so the word ‘equality’ is factually not inherently good.
Example 3: Context
I have already given an example of the way something like a scientific paper can be misunderstood, but there are many more examples of context. Things can rapidly change in their interpretation depending on the circumstances to which they appear, to say something really controversial in a comedy club, for example, is entirely different to saying it to a customer at your job. Writing things instead of saying them can also create massive confusion, an example would be that if you were having a debate over a social network, the language you use and how it is formulated changes completely, you might miss out words or ideas that you do not have time to write, you may use the wrong word or need to insert emotional language and not be able to do it, all of this is important.
So, the next time you write or say something, or you read something you think you disagree with, make sure you are understanding these basic points in order to try to understand what the communicator is trying to say to the communicatee.
