Getting a Grip on Language & Meaning
mark November 7th, 2007
(Mark, Media Marketing Director) Thom Hartman posted a wonderful piece on The Nation. It begins as a story about a personal political revolution, a conscious migration from conservative to liberal. Yet, like every good story, there is more than meets the eye. Hartman uses the story as a call for more effective personal communication.
You really ought to read the article, but here is a pivotal point:
“To be an effective communicator, we learn how to tell a story, with whom to share that story and why.”
“Everyone is a communicator, and we all communicate constantly. Some of us … are born storytellers and natural communicators. The skill of communication and persuasion seems innate and effortless. Folks like that are unconsciously competent at communicating. Most of us, however, are not very competent at communicating; what’s more, we don’t know that. We are unconsciously incompetent.”
Humans are meaning-makers; we move through a solid world, but we interact with that world through our ideas. There is much that is cut-and-dried, but even those interactions can take very different directions given the story we tell ourselves—and others—about them.
I was once confronted by the idea that there was no ancient middle class. The notion was not new, but when I considered the model that “proved” it, I realized that, applied to modern society, the model “proved” that there is no middle class in modern America (which is a whole other discussion!). The professor scolded that I was going against years of scholarship, and I, suitably scorned, held my tongue. That day I realized something powerful: it was not “truth” we were arguing, but the label.
In the ‘90s, the “Soccer Mom” was a demographic rage. Politicians, ad agencies, car makers, all of America were enamored with this “new” group. New? Were there no soccer moms in the ‘80s? The ‘70s? Were there soccer moms in ancient Rome?
The label did not create the population any more than the population suddenly springing forth fully-formed created the term. The truth is more subtle, more revealing: the term gave form to something that already existed, but was mostly unseen.
Frances spends a substantial portion of Getting a Grip working on—and underscoring the need for—new language. Part of Hartman’s point is that there are political machines shaping language, and we must be vigilant about our communication, so we represent the world we intend rather than that of those machines. Here’s Thom again:
“Some politicians’ efforts at persuasion are conscious, intentional, systematic and, of necessity, deceptive because they don’t share the worldview held by the majority of Americans. To respond, the rest of us must learn to communicate more effectively.”
I would argue this is also true of political parties, lobbyists, PACs, and any number of groups that help create the language of politics in America.
Middle class or soccer mom, what labels have you accepted into your lexicon?
Do they stand up to questioning?
Do they say what you really mean?
Peace, Mark
