#226 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday December 20)
Good morning!
The weaponization of America sadly is in full bloom. That weaponization is not only in the spate of gun ownership (we lead the world—“We’re number one!”). It also is the weaponization of words, not only in the political space but in the public square. The written word is now conveyed around the world and retweeted, reposted and republished at remarkable speed until one cannot discern its truth or provenance (which, I suspect, is exactly the objective). How does one know what is true and what is not, what is written by a reliable source and what is written by a conspiracy theorist in his basement, taking a break between playing Dungeons & Dragons on-line and going through his monthly gun-cleaning rituals?
Nancy Waldeck shared the following quotation from the great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright:
“I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s begin with the typewriter.”
As Nancy says, “substitute Internet for typewriter. We all are suffering from too much bold writing at the hands of fools with a keyboard.”
LET’S DIAL DOWN THE ADJECTIVES…
I received a message from a long-lost friend on Linked-In the other day. When I responded, I found that the app had provided some suggested responses, including “thank you” “ok” and “that’s great.” But one of them was “Awesome!” Really, does a text message really warrant an “awesome”?
This got me thinking about the proliferation of adjectives and adverbs in most every form of communication these days. Something isn’t just good—it has to be “really unique” (which, of course, is ridiculous, as “unique” means “one of a kind”). Common discourse, in personal and business communications seems to be mimicking the patter of snake oil salesmen. We are now living in a world of overstatement.
When asked to edit something written by someone else or when I’m asked to review a business communication, I find myself following the adage of eliminating as many adjectives and adverbs as possible. Here are a few places where adjectives have run amok:
Nothing is just good. It’s “awesome.”
Political adversaries are not simply wrong. They are “really, really dangerous” or they are “enemies of the people” or worse…
Performance of an investment asset isn’t merely “performing in accordance with underwriting.” It’s “really outstanding” or “truly excellent performance.” (as if it couldn’t simply be good if it wasn’t “truly” good).
Why isn’t stating the facts sufficient? Why can’t we allow the reader to read the facts (or the assertion and compare it to the facts) and reach his/her own conclusion?
WHEN EVERYTHING IS SUPERLATIVE, WE RUN OUT OF WORDS
When everything is expressed in the superlative, then when the superlative is required, its use is diminished by its overuse in the past. The use of superlatives, hyperbole and overstatement has overrun our speech in all walks of life—advertising, Facebook, reviews on Travelocity—but none is worse than the use of superlatives in the political realm. An adversary no longer is simply someone who disagrees on policy, even while sharing certain values. A political adversary now is the enemy, to be spoken of in the harshest of terms.
I recall a Democratic party operative (I can’t recall the name), who lamented that political speech had become so angry and so laden with accusations and adjectives, saying something to the effect of: “We used every possible argument against George W. Bush and called him every name under the sun. Then Donald Trump came along, who really was a danger to the country and deserving of every possible negative description available. But we’d already used up all of the words of derision with Bush. There were no words left to describe this truly despicable person.”
And despicable he is, habitually demeaning his opponents, claiming that people “stole” an election proven time and again to be the most examined, examined, audited and reviewed election in our history, repeatedly admonishing supporters at rallies to “take that guy outside” and physically attack him, turning victimization into a science and invective and hatred into an art form.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: