Sound Bites
There was a recent flurry of word activity on social media here in Wheeling after a local business owner succumbed to the temptation to use what some including my friend Barbara has labeled as sound bites. I think of sound bites as words or phrases which are intended to criticize, insult or otherwise provoke a reaction or pretend to be stating something profound when they actually state nothing useful. They are usually like tautologies. Tautologies are phrases such as “The red wagon is red.” which is a true statement and may be said in a profound manner, but which adds nothing to one’s fund of knowledge. Of course, red wagons are red. What other color would they be?
The sound bites which the person in Wheeling used on social media were:
America first.
Politically correct
America first is a phase which sounds as if is saying something which everyone in the United States should agree with. The initial problem I have with this sound bite is that the United States is not America. The United States of America is just one of the American countries. Secondly, even if one said “The United States first” it is only a partial truth. It is true that we must take care of the issues which are uniquely ours. We, as United States citizens must insure that the needs of our citizens are met and that we are addressing our past and current mistakes in policies and action. At the same time, we must accept that we are part of a larger whole. What we do or do not do affects many others just as what they do affects all of us in this country.
The term politically correct makes it sound as if one is intending to impose a rule or behavior on someone just because it is politically expedient and not because the socially accepted rule or behavior has become so because it has been recognized and accepted that in this country we have agreed to take the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights…” very seriously. As a community which forms a country we have struggled with coming to terms with the fact that racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination - of treating some as less than - is not consistent with who we want to be as a people. We have come a long way in our understanding and acceptance of this phrase or this statement since Thomas Jefferson first penned it. To write off that growth as “just politically correct” is to discount the pain that has been caused by the unequal treatment of others and the pain of separating ourselves from our fellow citizens.
It may still be painful for some to let go of certain learned lies or prejudices. We can certainly be sensitive to that pain without pretending as if it is okay to deal with discomfort by reverting to cruel treatment of each other.
To his credit the person who recently publicly used these words in Wheeling has agreed to a dialogue which I interpret as including the willingness to a discussion which goes beyond he use of sound bites. Hats off to all of us who are willing to sit at the table and work together to make the words of Thomas Jefferson even more of a reality in this country.
Written August 18, 2018
There was a recent flurry of word activity on social media here in Wheeling after a local business owner succumbed to the temptation to use what some including my friend Barbara has labeled as sound bites. I think of sound bites as words or phrases which are intended to criticize, insult or otherwise provoke a reaction or pretend to be stating something profound when they actually state nothing useful. They are usually like tautologies. Tautologies are phrases such as “The red wagon is red.” which is a true statement and may be said in a profound manner, but which adds nothing to one’s fund of knowledge. Of course, red wagons are red. What other color would they be?
The sound bites which the person in Wheeling used on social media were:
America first.
Politically correct
America first is a phase which sounds as if is saying something which everyone in the United States should agree with. The initial problem I have with this sound bite is that the United States is not America. The United States of America is just one of the American countries. Secondly, even if one said “The United States first” it is only a partial truth. It is true that we must take care of the issues which are uniquely ours. We, as United States citizens must insure that the needs of our citizens are met and that we are addressing our past and current mistakes in policies and action. At the same time, we must accept that we are part of a larger whole. What we do or do not do affects many others just as what they do affects all of us in this country.
The term politically correct makes it sound as if one is intending to impose a rule or behavior on someone just because it is politically expedient and not because the socially accepted rule or behavior has become so because it has been recognized and accepted that in this country we have agreed to take the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights…” very seriously. As a community which forms a country we have struggled with coming to terms with the fact that racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination - of treating some as less than - is not consistent with who we want to be as a people. We have come a long way in our understanding and acceptance of this phrase or this statement since Thomas Jefferson first penned it. To write off that growth as “just politically correct” is to discount the pain that has been caused by the unequal treatment of others and the pain of separating ourselves from our fellow citizens.
It may still be painful for some to let go of certain learned lies or prejudices. We can certainly be sensitive to that pain without pretending as if it is okay to deal with discomfort by reverting to cruel treatment of each other.
To his credit the person who recently publicly used these words in Wheeling has agreed to a dialogue which I interpret as including the willingness to a discussion which goes beyond he use of sound bites. Hats off to all of us who are willing to sit at the table and work together to make the words of Thomas Jefferson even more of a reality in this country.
Written August 18, 2018
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