You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth, even if it's an unpleasant truth.
I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms. But people are loaded with euphemisms because people have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. People have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a language to protest themselves from it and for some reason, it just keeps getting worse.
I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was eighty years ago. Some years gone by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue. Some more time passed by and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, we're up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car. But we didn't stop at that . No we went further and pulled out the sense of slightest bit of sympathy it may bring along and that very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder.
One of the reasons is because of that language we are using .That language that takes the life out of life ,invented by smug, greedy, well-fed MBA's and people in power to conceal their sins. When I was a little kid, poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities. And they're broke!, broke!!. They don't have a negative cash-flow position. They're freaking broke. Because a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the workforce.
It's as simple as that. The CBI's and FBI's doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. And some of this stuff is just silly, like on the airlines, they say they want to 'pre- board'. Well, what the hell is pre-board, what does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance. Cripples! Simple honest direct language. There is no shame attached to the word cripple I find in any dictionary. No shame attached to it, in fact it's a word used in bible translations. 'Jesus healed the cripples.' Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have any cripples in this country anymore. We have The physically challenged differently abled. I've heard them called that. Differently abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore. They'll say, "We're not handicapped. We're handicap able!" These poor people have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. We have no more deaf people in this country, hearing impaired. No ones blind anymore, partially sighted or visually impaired. We have no more stupid people. Everyone has a learning disorder or he's minimally exceptional. Psychologists actually have started calling ugly people, those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad, that any day now I expect to hear a Delhi cop to refer a rape victim as an unwilling sperm recipient.
The fear of truth doesn't leave us even in our last moments. We look at an old guy and say, "Look at him ! He's ninety years young." Imagine the fear of aging that reveals. To not even be able to use the word "old" to describe somebody. To have to use an antonym. Fear of aging is natural. It's universal. Isn't it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die, but we do! So we bullshit ourselves. We look in the mirror say, "well, I...I guess I'm getting...older." Older sounds a little better than old doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. Bullshit, I'm getting old! And it's okay, because thanks to our fear of death in this country, I won't have to die...I'll pass away. Or I'll expire ...like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital, they'll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient-care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice, they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure. Some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not vomit. Makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill.
I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms. But people are loaded with euphemisms because people have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. People have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a language to protest themselves from it and for some reason, it just keeps getting worse.
I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was eighty years ago. Some years gone by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue. Some more time passed by and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, we're up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car. But we didn't stop at that . No we went further and pulled out the sense of slightest bit of sympathy it may bring along and that very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder.
One of the reasons is because of that language we are using .That language that takes the life out of life ,invented by smug, greedy, well-fed MBA's and people in power to conceal their sins. When I was a little kid, poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities. And they're broke!, broke!!. They don't have a negative cash-flow position. They're freaking broke. Because a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the workforce.
It's as simple as that. The CBI's and FBI's doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. And some of this stuff is just silly, like on the airlines, they say they want to 'pre- board'. Well, what the hell is pre-board, what does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance. Cripples! Simple honest direct language. There is no shame attached to the word cripple I find in any dictionary. No shame attached to it, in fact it's a word used in bible translations. 'Jesus healed the cripples.' Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have any cripples in this country anymore. We have The physically challenged differently abled. I've heard them called that. Differently abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore. They'll say, "We're not handicapped. We're handicap able!" These poor people have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. We have no more deaf people in this country, hearing impaired. No ones blind anymore, partially sighted or visually impaired. We have no more stupid people. Everyone has a learning disorder or he's minimally exceptional. Psychologists actually have started calling ugly people, those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad, that any day now I expect to hear a Delhi cop to refer a rape victim as an unwilling sperm recipient.
The fear of truth doesn't leave us even in our last moments. We look at an old guy and say, "Look at him ! He's ninety years young." Imagine the fear of aging that reveals. To not even be able to use the word "old" to describe somebody. To have to use an antonym. Fear of aging is natural. It's universal. Isn't it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die, but we do! So we bullshit ourselves. We look in the mirror say, "well, I...I guess I'm getting...older." Older sounds a little better than old doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. Bullshit, I'm getting old! And it's okay, because thanks to our fear of death in this country, I won't have to die...I'll pass away. Or I'll expire ...like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital, they'll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient-care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice, they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure. Some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not vomit. Makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill.
