[FUPQ-09] Be kind to our languages
Day 3,707, 18:41
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Published in USA 
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by
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by Pfenix Quinn
The Free University of Phoenix Quinn is a service of the Socialist Freedom Party, based in e-USA, serving the e-proletariat and committed to building up international solidarity, defending individual freedom and dignity, and building
This is Lecture Number 9 of a 20-part series on Combating Tyranny. It's derived from Timothy Snyder's must-read ON TYRANNY, adapted to our New World context by me, R.F. Williams, the oldest living fanboy of the collected e-works of Phoenix Quinn.
Encuentre traducciones al español de estas conferencias en VANGUARDIA SOCIALISTA.
Be kind to our languages.
Avoid repeating hackneyed phrases. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from common memes and the internet.
Read books.
The authoritarian language of tyrants rejects legitimate opposition. The people always means some people and not others. Any kind of encounter or disagreement is an epic struggle where only one side can be winners. Any attempt by free players at thinking in a different way is defamation of The Leader.
In television and video, a rapid progression of images hinders any sense of resolution. Everything happens fast, but nothing actually happens. Every TV "news" story is a “breaking” one. We are washed by wave after wave of rhetorical games but we never see the ocean.
The domination of screens over pages, the narrowing of vocabularies, and the associated difficulties of formulating coherent thought are classic themes of anti-totalitarian novels like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. In Orwell’s famous book, the government eliminates more words in every edition of the official dictionary.
Repeating the same ever-shrinking set of common words and phrases leads to accepting the absence of a larger framework. Having a broader framework of understanding, developing larger concepts requires reading. If you want to be free, read a lot. Surround yourself with books.
Need some suggestions? Here are a few: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt (1963); Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev (2014); or maybe Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (2007).
Obviously here in the New World we have very few books. The very idea of books is foreign to eRepublik. Our game world is constructed entirely of screens and it revolves around a few relatively simple concepts.
There are thankfully a number of writers and commentators who dive more deeply into various concepts and sometime provide particularly thoughtful writing. But it is easy to get swept away by the banality of bad online behavior, a kind of toxic mental shock caused by an ever-narrowing band of discourse.
A useful antitoxin is to strive, when writing and communicating in-game, to use our various beautiful languages to work through or explore concepts that have not yet been elaborated in the game world, and strive to use phrases and expressions other than the mundane ones.
At the end of this lecture series, various totally legit certificates, degrees and honorariums will be issued by Doc Williams based on responses provided in the comment sections. Participation counts. Indicate attendance by leaving a comment or endorsing the article. Higher degrees
Examples of questions you might want to address in response to this lecture:
* How does the constant repetition of the same phrases make Jack a dull boy?
* While the language of game mechanics can be played with to some degree, isn’t there a fairly wide latitude for “role-playing” too within a socially-oriented play space like eRepublik? What kinds of stories and tales make the game more fun and interesting?
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Examples of questions you might want to address in response to this lecture:
* How does the constant repetition of the same phrases make Jack a dull boy?
* While the language of game mechanics can be played with to some degree, isn’t there a fairly wide latitude for “role-playing” too within a socially-oriented play space like eRepublik?
* What kinds of stories and tales make the game more fun and interesting?
You present a challenge, I will think about it. 😃
That is one of the joys of reading this lecture series. It regularly presents challenges.
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🙂
Your mention of our various beautiful languages reminds me that the study of other languages elucidates my own primary language.
I am not sure whether the constant repetition of a feiw phrases makes Jack a dull boy or indicates that he is already a dull boy. I do think Henry Higgins had a valid point that others may judge us by our use of language, both spoken and written. It is notable that the authoritarian trolls of both the real world and eWorld do often repeat the same memes and phrases over and over ad nauseum, and at the same time redefine words to suit their own purposes. This certainly cheapens and subverts our language. On the other hand, language is constantly evolving, new words being coined and old ones becoming obsolete. Change is not only inevitable, but can be viewed as a positive sign of growth. While I agree that reading is a great way to enhance both vocabulary and understanding of ideas, it is not the only way. Discussion and debate may serve a similar purpose.
Why is it that some ideas/concepts are written down in plain and (relative) simple language and others are not? Is language used to exclude? If so, to what end? Why going to the trouble to write it down if it's not your intention to reach as many people as possible? For example: if even a professor whose job it is to lecture on Judith Butler doesn't understand what's written in her books, does that mean Butler's ideas are too difficult to comprehend? Or is her editor not up to the job? Were her books written to share ideas or to show she belongs the prestigious club of elusive language users?
I've noticed at least 2 references to very dear cinematographers: François Truffaut (after the novel of Bradbury) & Stanley Kubrick (based on the novel by Stephen King).
Both movies, Fahrenheit 451 & The Shining are great. The End of the first one leaves us (at least me) depressed, because the totalitarian action of burning books is resolved with a depressing reaction of preserving them by memorizing trough repetition. The second is again about repetition (even reincarnation), but has much more levels of connotation & basically is all abut escaping the circle of reoccurring violence of mankind.
Sometimes it is needed to repeat words, as it is of value, like told in the latin proverb "repetita iuvant" . Another one claims that "repetitio est mater studiorum", a way we actually learn.
Repetition is a powerful tool: it can induce trance, brings us back to our roots - musically speaking (tribal drums) or can be used for indoctrination purposes (repeating lies), even brainwashing.
It's beyond good or evil, because it depends how that technique it is applied.
The invention (let's call it that way) of language brought first more oppression to mankind, as only the ruling elites were literate. But afterwards, it was a means to bring us much more freedom, freedom of choice what we want to believe in.
There has been a very wide spread piece of literature native to eRepublik, the so-called Book of Dio, that took roots & is even today influencing the game. But it's more about mythology & the search of meaning beyond game-mechanics, a wish to transcendent these pixels on the screen. Today it#s much more misused by those that selectively apply only some of its doctrine.
I personally use language as a weapon in the modul of politics (ok, i use it for trolling purposes as well, at times, not that often 😁 ) and I enjoy creating content, that is often said to be polarizing.
But wouldn't this game be dull & boring if none of that.
The function of any language is first, to inform, second, to reveal and third entertain.
I will skip all of the other functions of language, since nearly every one is a subset of one or more of the first three. One might argue that inform and reveal are identical, and in some cases, indeed they are, but there are subtle differences between these functions.
Prehistory would have been replete with informing. Things as disparate as to where to hunt and where to find healing herbs. Today, we might say where to shop and where the pharmacy is located.
Who killed such and so might be informing, but why it was done is a sample of revealing.
A withholding of an end to a story or a punch line to a joke are also very decent categories of revealing but also fall into the area of entertainment.
The basic functions are decently expressed in simple vocabulary. More complex vocabulary is used as an embellishment and also, at times, a filter. We can make choices with our words to communicate of several levels at once, and if you're clever enough, to misinform, misdirect or dissuade on person our group while doing the opposite with another.
This is where we begin to use language as an expression of art.
I want to keep this simple and brief. So no information is lost to any due to attention fade or exhaustion.
I will now go think more on this and perhaps, get back to you.
Thanks for the topic.
I think you have omitted another possibility: “Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts (La parole a été donné à l’homme pour déguiser sa pensée).”
You have, perhaps hinted at it in your comments about vocabulary, although I think more complex vocabulary tends more to elucidate than to misinform. For instance, I have recently been reminded that English has one word to express the many aspects of "love", while ancient Greek has at least 7, each with a different meaning.
I also believe that a more limited vocabulary, with the attending necessary repetition, robs perfectly useful words of their meaning. This is one reason (not the only one) that I avoid using profanity. It is so commonplace that it has lost its impact The same can be said of labels. They can be useful at times, but they rarely fully describe a person or group of people, and their overuse renders them even more meaningless.
Is political correctness another side of this coin?
It is very difficult to read a lot of words when there is no cohesion. When there is cohesion and the topic is good it is easy to read a lot of words. I am lazy, so I keep it short.
While the language of game mechanics can be played with to some degree, isn’t there a fairly wide latitude for “role-playing” too within a socially-oriented play space like eRepublik? Absolutely. eRep a war game? Yes. eRep a socially oriented game? Yup. 🙂