Racist, Bigot, Misogynist, Moron, Fool, Deplorable, Crazy, Hateful, Asshat, POS, Evil, Sicko, Bonehead and various body parts.
Anybody who has dabbled in politics on Facebook, email, or at a family gathering has seen these words or had them thrown their way. They are the ammunition in the war between those with different political philosophy who are little shy of facts. It's hard to be called a less than complimentary name and let it roll like water off of an elephant or donkey's back, so maybe it's a good idea to probe the impact of "words."
The first time I became aware of the awesome power of words was a few years ago when a new local radio talk show host used the term, "wetback." I knew what he was attempting to describe, I got it. It meant nothing to me but it meant the end of a promising radio career for our local talk show host.
Mr. Talk Show's repeated use of the word on the air to make a point, made a point. The point he made was if you say "wetback" on the air in New Mexico, you're fired. Whatever happened to "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never harm me?"
This event got me thinking, why do some words bother us and others do not? Some Mexican-American listeners were bothered not at all by the "w" word and others were aggravated to the point of picketing the radio station. It can't be the word itself; it must be what that word (or any word) means to each individual who hears it.
So if we are in charge of what words mean to us, can't we choose not to be hurt by them?
Maybe words bother us most when we give them some validity. If we enjoy writing and if someone were to comment on our writing by saying that we, "ramble on without obvious direction," we might be bothered at some level if we felt that might be true. But if the next person commented that the reason you write as you do is that your head is blue, being called a "bluehead" wouldn't bother you at all because you know you are not one of the rare and colorful Bluehead clan.
It's not only the words we hear, but who says them. I was a professional speaker for many years. If upon leaving a program, a domicilly challenged person, sucking Ripple wine out of a bottle wrapped in a brown paper sack told me he heard my talk while rummaging through a dumpster in the alley outside of my meeting room, and I "stunk" even more than the dumpster, I guess I wouldn't much care. But, if the "stunk" word was laid on me by one of my peers in the National Speakers' Association, I would have exhibited a distinctly different reaction to the same words.
Words by themselves mean nothing. We give words all the meaning they have for us.
Today, everywhere we look in the world something icky is going on. This is the time for intelligent discussion of solutions, but the world's issues are so complicated, and since most of us don't really understand them nor do we have any practical or workable solutions, the only thing we seem to be sure of is the "other side" is wrong. When a person can't put their position forward or contradict other's position with facts, all that's left is name calling. "Yea! Well, you're a poop head!"
Maybe the power of words for good and bad in our life depends on our sense of self-esteem? The more confident we are about ourselves, the tougher it is to find a word to hurt us. It may be hard for us to accept and implement this truth but maybe if we are offended by being called Racist, Bigot, Misogynist, Moron, Fool, Deplorable, Crazy, Hateful, Asshat, POS, Evil, Sicko, Bonehead and various body parts, maybe it says more about us than it does about the words.
"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never harm me." (Unless I let them.)
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