Some Amazing Things About Language

    While having a cup of coffee at Starbucks recently a young man next to me carefully marked his place in the book he was reading and commented that the written word was amazing and that it had saved him. Trying to be kind, but at the same time avoid what was probably going to be a self indulgent disclosure of some tragic event in his life, I responded with a noncommittal,
    "That's good, I'm happy for you."
   Unfortunately he was not put off, and as he told me about his past drug addiction and jail time he pushed the book he had been reading closer and I could see it was a Bible. He finished his story by commenting again on the amazing power of the written word and waited for me to open the door for his chance to save my soul.
     Now, I respect others perspectives and religious beliefs, but having been subjected to hundreds of pitches to join everything from multi-level marketing efforts promising quick riches, to evangelical recruitments promising eternal life, I have become dubious about conversations like the one the young man was trying to initiate. The amazing power of the word he was talking about was the word of God, but the actual words he was referring to were the result of writings by many individuals spread over six hundred years and translated from Greek and Aramaic into hundreds of other languages over nearly two thousand years and the words that were now setting on a small table next to me at Starbucks.
     The young man obviously found the book amazing because, for him, it was a kind of magical code for behavior and salvation, I found the book amazing because it exemplified the human trick of coding meaningful speech sounds into visual symbols that no longer drifted away in the wind but lasted through time for future humans to scan with their eyes and re-translate into meaningful sounds. To me the miracle of the book he was pushing at me was not God talking to people but the ability of humans to speak to other humans in the future, an amazing quality of all books.
     As I pondered the many amazing things about communications between plants, animals and humans I remained silent and the young man, fearing he had lost the opportunity to fulfill his obligation to save my soul, repeated his opening statement loudly hoping to interrupt my reverie. This time his loud and insistent announcement that, ' the word was an amazing thing', got the attention of many others enjoying coffee and a quiet conversation. He was now holding up the Bible and I was suddenly on center stage at Starbucks being threatened with a Holy book by a militant evangelist.
      "Admit it," he repeated. "The word of God is amazing."
Without thinking I responded in an equally loud voice.
     "What's amazing is that we can exchange complex ideas by vibrating the air between us"
There was a smattering of applause and laughter from other customers and the young man pulled his book back, opened it to his marked place as if looking for the ultimate proof needed to force his religion on me, and went silent. Soon after he closed his magical book without having turned a page and left the coffee shop without vibrating any air between us.
      Other than the few who have attacked me with weapons when I resisted their attempts to save my soul, I hold no ill feelings toward those who feel compelled to bring everyone into their circle of beliefs and thank the young man at Starbucks for prompting me to examine language and communications from a new perspective. Nearly all living things communicate in some way or another and some leave traces, visual and scent, to be read by others in the future but only humans leave complex ideas and thoughts in electronic and graphic forms for other humans to open and read in the future. This nifty trick makes civilization possible and indeed amazing. A month from now I can return and read what I have just written and will be listening to my own voice from the past. "Amazing". I can also go to the library, walk between the racks and touch thousands of books waiting to be opened releasing the voices, ideas and wisdom of authors long dead. "Amazing".             

The Me/We equation

     Humans are social animals. They live in groups and depend upon one another for protection and physical and emotional support. Alone we aren't much of a match for Nature but as cooperative collections of individuals humans rule the planet. Human success is due in large part to their language capacity which allows them to share complex ideas and imagine things no one has experienced. The complexity of their language also absorbs natural orders of things hidden in Nature and allows the naming of reoccurring events increasing their predictive powers and expanding their scope of awareness. Beyond their articulate tongue, humans possess an opposable thumb and walk upright with hands free to use the tools their language and their inventiveness leads them to fashion. Humans name each other, and the tribes to which they belong, and as with all social animals they differentiate between their personal needs and the needs of the pack. Like all social animals living in mutually supportive groups they also establish relationships, position and rules, and establish a relative balance between their personal needs and the needs of the tribe. This balance between the individual and the group is the "Me/We" equation.
     The "Me/We" equation is weighted and balanced by circumstance but is perpetuated and observed as a matter of perception and is sustained by the acquiescence of the individuals within the group. Nearly all ancient societies were weighted heavily in favor of the "We" side of the equation. Individuals thought of themselves as subservient to the ordered society around them and were sustained by myth and sometimes tyrannical rule, and marched in step without complaint. Order was imposed and maintained partly by fear of punishment but also by the feeling of security afforded by being a part of a greater and protective whole. The Roman Empire was expanded by force but persisted by being all inclusive and making certain all of it's citizens benefited by being under Roman rule. The "We" perception was weighted heavily against the "Me" for most of human history and has provided the glue that allowed empires to persist for centuries.
     A few thousand years ago, however, a "Me" message began to take hold that, for good or ill, has tilted the equation toward "Me" as being equally or more important than "We" and we have been struggling with this shifting balance ever since. One can establish numerical values and assign them to the "Me/We" equation for periods of recent history and to Kingdoms and Nation states. 8Me=2We, (or the State is four times as important as the individual), might describe communism under Stalin for example, but I will leave that fruitless task to others and use the concept of a "Me/We" equation only as critical thinking tool that can be used to shed light on many of our current organizations and political views and to point out that religion has added an additional variable to the equation, "The Other Me" or "OMe".
     The "Other Me" is the concept that beyond ones perception of their responsibility to their tribe, and themselves is another "Me" called their soul that is responsible not to their tribe, (unless the leader or Emperor is a god},  but to an all seeing God that will save all "OMe" believers from death and reward or punish them according to how well they have obeyed the precepts of their religion. We now have a "Me/We" equation that looks like this "OMe = Me + We".  To balance this equation the "OMe" must always outweigh the sum of ones allegiance to both self and tribe.
     One can apply the equation to one's self for a self evaluation, to another persons perception of their status with regard to the strength of their allegiances, to an organization, a political party, a terrorist group or a nation state, not as a clear measure of the truth but as an illuminating exercise in critical thinking.
    
    
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Protesting, Obstructing, and Stalking; There is a difference

 

  There are many social issues that divide people along ideological lines; labor vs. management, industry vs. environmentalists, resource consumption vs. conservation. Confrontations between opposing opinions and purposes take many forms. Approached logically, in person, in legislative bodies, or in courts of law, compromises can sometimes be reached, but logical debate requires an unemotional exchange of information which isn't always possible. Confrontations over social issues can take the form of peaceful protests, obstruction, intimidation, stalking and violence.
Laws do not effectively differentiate between various forms of ideological conflicts in a free societies for fear of trampling on a citizens right to free speech, but in more despotic forms of government protests are dealt with swiftly and sometimes with deadly force.
   Free speech is an essential element of our democracy and guaranteed by our constitution but there are limits. Slander is not allowed. Creating panic without due cause is not allowed. Likewise certain activities used as a means to voice an objection or opinion are not allowed. One cannot jamb up a revolving door to a department store because they sell perfume tested on animals, or drop stink bombs onto a construction site because homes are being displaced.
   But striking workers can recruit surrogates to parade up and down sidewalks with ready made signs protesting low wages or safety issues, war protestors can infiltrate funerals for fallen soldiers, religious protestors can interfere in gay right activities or block access to abortion clinics and neo Nazis can parade with anti-Semite signs and banners and, as long as these activities are infrequent and of short duration they are tolerated.
    But there is one ongoing protest that has lasted for decades and is an every day occurrence carried out by the same few individuals who claim their right to free speech excludes restriction because their message is from God, and they are therefore free to continually harass, intimidate, threaten and sometimes harm or even kill with impunity. Their message is an emotional distortion of the reality they protest against and they justify their actions through assumed religious truths and pseudo science. Clergy, politicians and lawmakers cower and try to avoid their virulent activities because this small group has succeeded in drawing the line between what they believe and any modified or alternate view so narrowly that any non committal or reasonable stance identifies the moderate as outside the community of a true believer and therefore a non Christian.
   These same militant few are often treated with kid gloves by police and  prosecutors because they revel in any attempt to control their activities as a chance to proclaim themselves and their obstructionist cause as being the victim of state interference in religion. Any other continuing protest activity lasting decades and involving stalking, personal threats, invasions of privacy, bombings and killings by a small group of militant evangelists would have labeled them terrorists and been dealt with swiftly, but these few radicals have intimidated our leaders and infiltrated government agencies, not to serve the people but to serve  a single obstructionist cause. They succeed because their voices are loud and threatening, not because they understand or are compassionate. They persist because they have used their single issue to divide our society into believers and non believers and because of this created a state of avoidance. Ignore them and they will never go away. They have even corrupted our language. Before their decades long campaign of intimidation the word 'choice' had a good connotation. It was at the core of our democracy and morality. Now the word has been turned into a single evil option that cannot be used without their agenda ringing in our ears.
     I would urge every one partially seduced by their rhetoric to go unannounced to one of their protests and pretend you are violating their barrier, or just stand aside and observe. These people are infiltrating your government and slowly usurping your rights, not just as it pertains to their cause but many more. The intensity of one's beliefs does not make them any more or less true and this type of militant evangelism is potentially as dangerous as any radical religion.
    I would ask those that enforce the law to apply it equally to these obstructionists. A thirty year reign of intimidation and stalking is not a peaceful protest. I would urge the rational clergy to disclaim these religious intimidators and allow others with different beliefs to exist in peace. If you ignore them you condone their approach and will eventually draw their militancy into your churches. We have had enough religious wars and the deeper you draw the line in the sand between those who pray and those who don't, the less likely anyone seeking the refuge you offer from reality will cross the line.