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| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"language",<br>"author":"leguna",<br>"permlink":"governments-are-not-their-people",<br>"title":"Governments are not their people.",<br>"body":"![image.png (https:\/\/files.peakd.com\/file\/peakd-hive\/leguna\/23s9ZrXCT4fAFEBjW3N95MKdX2URsobcLhJPdaZnqaxnKFyy1H8rTXdE9rU3cjuYsJgHX.png)\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve been thinking a lot over the past couple years about words and the ways that a poverty of language might shape our feelings.\n\nParticularly I\u2019ve been thinking about the valence of nationalities and the way our language might emotionally sort us into one tribal affiliation rather than another.\n\nFor example,<br> most of us empathize with and support the Iranian people against their government. But when we say,<br> \u201cthe Iranians did X,<br>\u201d we combine those two groups. We lump the people of Iran in with their government. And the Us vs Them immediately *feels* like Americans vs Iranians.\n\nThe same can obviously be said of the Chinese and supporting the people of China while detesting their government.\n\nIt\u2019s hard to believe something as emergent as language would be *designed* to do this. But for whatever reason,<br> it has bubbled up in a way that is far too convenient for powerful governments and far too inconvenient for the people.\n\nMy worry is that this lack of vocabulary drives emotions,<br> and those emotions,<br> in turn,<br> drive positions. We then reason backwards to invent arguments to justify positions based on feelings \u2014 all while tricking ourselves into thinking we are being logical.\n\nIf emotions are truly in the driver\u2019s seat,<br> and the availability of our language affects our emotions,<br> I think it\u2019s incredibly likely that this lack of adequate language could lead us to misidentify who are our friends and who are our enemies.\n\nOf course,<br> you can always be specific and say,<br> \u201cthe Iranian government,<br>\u201d but it\u2019s cumbersome and unrealistic to expect that sort of linguistic discipline.\n\nI don\u2019t have a great answer here,<br> but maybe being conscious of it is a start \u2014 simply knowing that an American plumber is emotionally pushed,<br> by happenstance of vocabulary,<br> to identify with Nancy Pelosi,<br> Mitch McConnell,<br> or the US State Department more than he is to identify with an Iranian plumber.\n\nGovernments are not their people. And I think it\u2019s high time we had easy,<br> colloquial language to reflect that.",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"language\",<br>\"tribal\",<br>\"affiliation\",<br>\"iran\",<br>\"ccp\",<br>\"government\",<br>\"people\" ,<br>\"image\":[\"https:\/\/files.peakd.com\/file\/peakd-hive\/leguna\/23s9ZrXCT4fAFEBjW3N95MKdX2URsobcLhJPdaZnqaxnKFyy1H8rTXdE9rU3cjuYsJgHX.png\" ,<br>\"app\":\"steemit\/0.2\",<br>\"format\":\"markdown\" " |
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