I have a tendency to talk in wobbly ovals so...if I don't make sense I'm terribly sorry =) Also, my examples are ridiculous.
I think that it is impossible to say that humans are innately good or evil objectively. And because of this I don't think you can say that language has the ability to make people (objectively) good or evil.
For instance, if I was a great orator and an excelent writer I could concievably start a cult and convince masses of people that it was evil to have a pinky finger. The pinky is the source of all evil. We would chop off our pinkies and those of our offspring at birth.
So, my little cult of wierdos would certainly believe that the great majority of people are indeed born with malice in their hearts. I convinced them that to be born with a pinky was to be born sinful and inclined to do dastardly deeds.
In my theoretical cult it is considered noble to cannibalize and a great honor to be thought worthy of being eaten by another human being.
Eating popsicles on days when the temperature is below 35 would also be evil.
So would changing the channel on tv as soon as the commercials came on....and then changing it back every few minutes only to find that you've missed part of the stinking show. Erratic channel changers would be punished severely....But I digress....
I guess what I'm trying to say here is once again, that language doesn't give humans the ability to do good or evil, but it DOES give us the ability to think in those terms. Our mental capacities give us the ability to reason and judge and decide and convince.
Language allows us to CREATE good and evil, to create the idea of selfishness or selflessness, to consider it and decide whether or not one or the other is an acceptable or unacceptable thing.
So, I guess I do agree that composition is the ultimate human endeavor =)
And just to clarify in case I scared anyone, no, I do not actually want to start any freaky cults or cut off anyone's pinky. My personal definition of evil includes dismembering other people.
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I think your examples are hillarious and really show the power that a person can have when he or she uses language. I couldn't agree more with the fact that language has been used to create good and evil and has also been used to define selfishness.
ReplyDelete"language doesn't give humans the ability to do good or evil, but it DOES give us the ability to think in those terms." Great line. I agree. Many old myths about human origins suggest that such is THE main difference. Christianity, for instance, says that it was the "knowledge" of good and evil that caused the fall. In other words, Adam and Eve, real or not, must have been doing good AND evil, but they must not have had any knowledge of the morality of such actions until after they had language.
ReplyDeleteBTW - what is the name of your cult? :)
ReplyDeleteI thought your examples were pretty darn good. You make a great point. People can be convinced of just about anything if the person doing the convincing is well, convincing. On the other hand, you also have horrible orators who somehow convince people that things like an illegal, unjustified war is the right thing, or that we should vote them into high office. Now more than ever, I think people are willing to do things that they DO think are evil if it means financial gain.
ReplyDeleteHa those were some pretty funny examples, but they got your point across well. I understand what you are getting at and I agree that if people are convinced of something in a good enough way, people will do almost anything. I also agree with you that composition is the ultimate human endeavor.
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