A Thought on Language and Discourse

Why has the general level of discourse specially in public fora declined so much over the last 30 years or so? Over time, not only do we seem to have become more intolerant of other people's views (which is a topic for another day), we also are more likely to use language that would have been unacceptable only a generation ago. This is increasingly reflected in speeches given by public representatives in country after country. More importantly, it is being reflected in electronic media like movies, songs and video games; I say more importantly because movies and music in general tend to have a large impact on the public consciousness. These are one of the primary mechanisms through which culture now evolves both globally and locally.

Language is a reflection of our thoughts. Lacking telepathy, the only way in which we can express our views is via language whether spoken or written. When coarse language becomes acceptable in our writings and our speech, this reflects a coarsening of our thoughts. Thoughts in turn are important because they ultimately translate into actions. Coarse thoughts lead to a greater likelihood of socially inappropriate or unacceptable actions. This has happened sufficiently gradually that we have adjusted to this reality without truly realizing what has happened. This does not mean that we do not appreciate fine language. Most of us enjoy watching older movies or listening to older songs because they use a level of language that has largely disappeared from our daily lives. Graceful language is a joy to hear. It is a thing of beauty that can move people emotionally. Perhaps by degrading the level of our discourse, we are without realizing it stunting ourselves emotionally.

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Where is The Wisdom?

We live in an age of easy information. This is a most unusual situation. Historically, nearly everyone has been information poor. It took time for information to travel from one place to another; even between places that are relatively close to each other. Even 40 years ago, it was not common for news to be transmitted internationally. Indeed, in nearly all parts of the world, news and information was essentially local. In the early 90's, many companies were still using telexes for international communication - a decades old method of transmitting information. Locally typewriters (by this time electronic ones) and hand written memos were still being used. Fax had recently been introduced. In many subsidiaries of multinationals, fax machines were kept at the chief executive's office.

All this changed within a decade. The transformation has been astonishing. The simultaneous development of email and the web transformed the way businesses and individuals communicate. Information, which previously had been hard to find suddenly became easily accessible; to the extent that a new term - information overload - had to be coined. Earlier generations would have found this concept most intriguing. An entire generation has grown up with easy access to incredible amounts of information. Yet in all this deluge of information, we seem to have lost knowledge. More importantly, we seem to have lost wisdom - the ability to couple information with right and wrong.