Painting in primary colours: what we lose when we abandon nuance
The relentless 'cartoonification' of our language illustrates just how much this hurts us and what we stand to lose
Genuine ignorance is profitable because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch- phrases, cant terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish, waterproof to new ideas (Dewey, 1910: 177)
The debate about whether language influences thought ‘completely’ or ‘not at all’ or any shade in between, is not one with which I am competent to engage, save to say that 50 years of using language has shown me that the words we choose often matter a great deal; if language doesn’t control our thoughts, it certainly frames them or may even prevent them forming at all - ‘I just couldn’t find the words’.
The importance of speech is therefore protected by any society worth a damn, as a fundamental human right, without which as Lech Walesa confirmed ‘life is just not worth living’. It should therefore be a matter of grave concern to us all that the last few years have see a determination to reduce - even destroy entirely - the importance and necessity of this right. Individuals such as Maya Forstater and Harry Miller have had to undergo the extreme financial and emotional stresses of litigation, to simply re-affirm what should be as uncontroversial and every day as breathing oxygen.
Even despite their victories, the movement to repress and silence speech continues. The latest assault is against Joanna Cherry KC who looks likely to now embark on litigation which she will certainly win, after she was refused the opportunity to speak because staff at the proposed venue objected to her protected belief. All this money, time, energy wasted - for what? How did we get here?
As ever, my time on social media is not wasted. It gives me windows into many worlds - some of unparalleled bleakness - and allows me time to formulate some theories about how we got where we are. This is an important exercise; as James Baldwin said - ‘not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing will change unless it is faced’.
I have reached what I think is a pretty firm conclusion. Those who cannot see the value in free speech have got to this place because they don’t value speech at all - or, to attempt a more nuanced explanation, they use words as a toddler uses paint, to splash about without any attempt to create something coherent, beautiful, or powerful in any way. Primary colours abound, if they hit the paper that’s more by luck than design and more often than not they end up smeared on the toddler’s face or nearby surfaces.
I have seen a number of different examples of this that I think provide support for this central thesis. The attempt to deny reality relies upon using words in ways devoid of nuance and context and permitting no discussion about either; hence the rise of the ‘thought terminating cliche’ which does exactly what it says on the tin. We can see this in the constant refrain online that ‘hate is bad!’ - from people who in their very next tweet with post without irony how much they ‘fucking hate Terfs’ etc. ‘Hate’ isn’t so much a word for them than a primary colour they can dollop onto a canvass wherever they like, to cover up the landscape that someone else is trying to paint, with attention to detail and a desire to create something interesting.
And this matters a great deal. It is no coincidence that those (primarily trans identifying men) who engage in this deliberate debasement of language are the same ones who publish heavily filtered selfies or lurk behind cutesy anime avatars. They are not interested in discussion about what is real, but with what performance they can force you to comply.
There is no distinction between the tubby middled aged man who sees himself as some kind of bestockinged Lolita and those who talk relentlessly of ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ surgery, an attempted cartoonification of what is serious and irreversible surgery with life long consequences. Any attempt to pierce the veil or draw back the curtain is met with howls of ‘hate’ or accusations of ‘weirdness’, as if a child making a decision to be sterile and anorgasmic before they reach puberty is something that is simply unremarkable.
We must reclaim our language and our right to use it. The consequences if we don’t are sadly not unthinkable. We can see now, all around us, what will happen if we give up our language. We might as well surrender our souls.
Perfect summation of the thought decay currently taking hold of western society. We are entering a second Dark Ages, I'm afraid. Sleepwalking into it. Thank you for continuing to shine a light on this encroaching darkness.
Excellent piece, Sarah. I now have a mental image of Owen Jones sitting cross-legged on the floor festooned with wet paint.