Words

"The Pen is mightier than the sword!" ...

I have always believed in the above credo... always believed that good and decent words will make the world a more peaceful, stable place... that, as long as we use words, we won't use weapons against our adversaries.

Words are dear to me! When I write, I fight with myself over each and every one of them... which and where to place one, asking myself, if it really has the meaning I want to convey; always conscious that my words have consequences, might impact others in an unintended way. 

But, we live in a digital age now. And,  the last four years has proven in shocking ways, how little words, moreover facts, meanwhile count - especially in the USA under its current administration and their 45th president.

Notorious achors for so-called "news" channels of some private television and radio stations who dare to call themselves reporters or worse, journalists, have long ago armed their words and since then aimed at the truth with the utmost negligence, regardless of the consequences!

This most irresponsible way of using words, has now been bested by the majority of the current Republican Party and the 45th President of the United States. With sadly very few exceptions, they all either twist the truth beyond recognition or lie outright, and with shameless blatancy, at that.

But the most perfidious way these people use their words is to stir up prejudice and, meanwhile, even incite violence against the weakest among us.

Today, we live in a world, where the news has been reduced to mere "sound bites" - rarely more than 30-60 seconds long. The attention span of people has also rapidly declined. Nobody is affording themselves the time anymore to muse their lives. 

One half of society, the wealthy half, seems to want to amuse themselves to death in obscene luxury, whilst the other, the poorer half, is busy surviving the harsh and hectic enviromnment we ourselves have created by well-meaning technological progress. But, words musn't be merely consumed, if they are to have meaning at all. Words are not convenient consumer goods, they often carry profound consequences!

Considering the plight and personal hardships of populations all over the world, who are not fortunate enough to belong to the rich and or the very well-to-do casts, it is understandable that their lives lack the tranquility usually going hand-in-hand with the luxury of an extended read of the morning paper or a good book in a comfortable arm-chair. The sad truth is, those who actually could afford said luxury often don't realise the privilege they have.

We have created a generation growing up with high-speed information, everything instantly at hand, with a click on the keyboard - ready for consumption without even questioning the source of such quickly obtained data. Have we created a technological monster? A world ruled merely by cyber communication and speed and no longer by ethics or moral standards inherently necessary for the survival of any society?

Decades ago, American media critic and scholar Neil Postman already saw the writing on the wall, when  he wrote  about our transformation into a "Technopoly": a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it - with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth."

Neil Postman was an American media scholar, in particular a critic of the medium of television and a well-known non-fiction writer in the 1980s. His most best known book on the danger that threatens a society if it does not grow ethically and morally to the same extent as it does technologically is Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Also verry current, and thus a worthwhile read his Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future, where Postman shows us how to reclaim that balance between mind and machine in a dazzling celebration of the accomplishments of the Enlightenment - from Jefferson's representative democracy, to Locke's deductive reasoning and to Rousseau's demand that the care and edification of children be considered an investment in our collective future.

Definitely not to be missed is his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

With Donald Trump, we have the best example of what happens when media and politics become forms of entertainment. As our world begins to look more and more like Orwell's 1984, Neil's Postman's essential guide to the modern media is more relevant than ever.

Read also

• The Inexplicable Metamorphosis Of Lindsey Graham
• A Speech For The History Books
• The New Messiah
• My Idol Nation Got Feet of Clay

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