Language is not only the means through which existence is transacted, it constitutes our central experiences of social and moral content, of such concepts as freedom and truth, an, most importantly, of individuality and the self; it is also a system of lies, evasions, propaganda, misrepresentati on, and conformity.

~Rachel Cusk

Tim adds:

Exactly. Language is what sets us apart from the animals. Annimals think after a fashon, and even communicate in certain ways, but they cannot communicate abstract concepts or work out anything more than "food here" concepts and that is because we have language and think using it. We have Brocca's region in our brains, the language center in our left lobe. Animals lack this and so they never develooped civilizations. If you dumb down language you dumb down people. That has been the goal of modern education, which has emphasized kids speaking in their own language (as if they HAVE their own language and are not just ignorant) rather than teach them to speak and reason with proper language structure. The end result is sloppy speech and sloppy thinking, making them an easy target for demogoguerie.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:20 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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