Thursday 12 April 2007

Words, Words, Words

Sometimes there is a weird synchronicity* in reading. In every third book or magazine I've read in the last six months, Herodotus has been mentioned; I finally took the cosmic hint and put it on my wish list.

Along the same lines, Sars has redone Tomato Nation and I was rereading some of my favourite essays. This one in particular resonated with me as I'd had a conversation in the last week about how I couldn't get into the Flashman books because of derogatory references to anyone who wasn't white. Yesterday I read Agatha Christie's "Dumb Witness" which has a chapter titled N***** in the Woodpile (I can't even type the word). So all this is rolling around in my mind and I began to wonder if I'm being oversensitive and a bit hippy woo woo about the whole thing. In the Christie example, it was a common phrase of the time and I suppose allowances must be made for changes in thinking. And after all they're just words.

But the problem is that there is no "just" about it. Words are thoughts.

I guarantee this word and all the other pejoratives like it are used every single day. In harsh, whispered smiles; as a punch line to a joke; yelled by true believers. It makes me so angry because there is utterly no need for any of it. I'm not naive enough to think we should just hug and sing Kumbaya and get along. It would be impossible, and no doubt boring, to like everyone but dislike them for valid reasons. Be pissed at your boss because of her patronising manner not because of the colour of her skin. Roll your eyes at the drama queen's selfish antics and not at his sexuality. Be mystified at your professors' discourteous address and not their accent.

I'm not sure I even know what my point was in all this, however, if Descartes is right and cogito ergo sum I don't want these thoughts, these words to define who I am. And neither should you.

*You have no idea how long it took me to find a word to describe this feeling. The thought process went thus (the dashes represent me buggering about on Wiki or getting distracted by the dictionary): amalgam - symbiosis - syzygy. Notice I skipped over the actual word and went straight to the pretentious one.