Although I am as careful with words as anyone (or try to be, anyway) I often think that we have become excessively devoted to them, particularly in academia. In many disciplines I feel we are giving them a weight that they cannot bear. It's not just the effect of TV I'm sure. It is significant that face-to-face meetings between businesspeople and politicians are still important for the sake of the non-verbal behaviour. Indeed, this will be the most serious charge that future historians will apply to Bush, I'm sure -- that he never stayed long enough in any place when going abroad to discuss anything in dpth with other leaders. He was always trumpeting from thousands of miles away.
I'm also fascinated by the recent genre of graphic books. Some I have read recently -- biographies, novels, war 'journalism' -- can get over the most subtle (and serious) ideas by means of cartoons. When I was young, I eschewed the caroon-only comics and read only those with stories. Today, in my dotage, I find I am greatly attracted to the new genre of graphc books. I think there's a huge future here. I think that this method may be the best medium by which satellite-delivered learning programmes may be delivered -- as I forecast in 1984 with the publication of my own book on the subject. (And, come to think of it -- if I can find a copy of it on my bookshelves! -- I think it had a long graphics section of several pages as an appendix.
Keith
At 10:33 14/05/2005 -0700, you wrote:
Weve often discussed language here and the trouble it sometimes gives us in written communication as well. Thought this might be of interest to some, especially in light of the protests spreading in the Middle East and a new movie here about the historical Crusades.
For more about the movie and its political implications, see the LA Times companion editorial today
Blame the Crusades http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-heaven14may14,0,5090319.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
THE LOADED WORD
LA Times Editorial, Saturday, May 14, 2005
The Power to Wound
President Bush might or might not have been aware of the power of the word "crusade" when he used it days after the Sept. 11 attacks to describe the coming U.S. battle against terrorism. Some think his speechwriters knew exactly what they were doing, invoking Christian holy war against Muslims to arouse national fervor.
Then again, there's "Crusader Rabbit."
This term "crusade," born of bloody and ultimately futile warfare, interwoven with religious passion, has evolved into a commonplace in modern Western culture, a casually secular word. "Crusader" today simply means activist, a title so innocuous that it was given in 1948 to the first animated cartoon series made for TV, about a bunny often seen with his lance and shield who traveled to such exotic locales as Texas to fend off evil with his tiger pal, Rags. We have crusading journalists, crusading environmentalists and, of course, crusading Tom DeLay.
Though evangelist Billy Graham has practically made the word his trademark, newspapers find it equally handy. This page has used it in seven editorials this year, not counting today. We've knocked filibusters for hindering "progressive crusades in Washington," denounced the "tax-cut crusade" and praised Martin Luther King Jr.'s "crusade for economic justice."
About the only people who didn't use the word "crusader" were the early Crusaders themselves. They thought of themselves as pilgrims to the Holy Land. But since the pilgrimage also involved "taking the cross," wearing the Christian symbol on one's tunic as an ever-present vow of piety, these ventures eventually took their name from the Latin "crux," or cross.
As easily as we bandy words about, the childish verse about sticks and stones has it wrong. Words have power to wound and inflame. Many Muslims have never taken the word lightly, and Bush wisely vowed after his first "crusade" speech not to repeat it.
Months before 9/11, a Catholic school in San Juan Capistrano changed its planned team name from Crusaders (the logo showed a shield emblazoned with two swords and a cross) to Lions. Muslims applauded this sensitivity. Yet a couple of years ago, when young Muslim men organized flag-football teams in Orange County, some adopted such sure-to-offend team names as Intifada and Mujahideen (holy warrior).
Today's focus on politically correct language often seems silly. But nearly 1,000 years after the Crusades began, it's worth remembering that "innocuous" is a point of view.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-crusade14may14,0,3975084.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
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Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org>
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