Have you ever considered that the very words we use daily, every day, I guess that's what
daily would mean every day, might be shaping our reality in ways that we can't even begin
to fathom?
Think about the words you hear every day.
How do they impact you?
How do they make you feel?
After all, they are just sounds uttered from our vocal cords and then we assign meaning
to them in our brain and based on what we assign as meaning, we often react emotionally
to the mere sound of the utterances.
Hmm, that's pretty interesting and profound.
Welcome to Life Unscripted, the podcast that challenges the notion that everything we've
learned is an illusion and that life has no scripts.
I'm Allen Stafford, your host and guide.
In this episode, we're diving into a topic that is as ubiquitous as it is powerful, language.
Join me as we unravel how language influences our thoughts, behaviors and social structures
and discover how understanding this power can empower us to navigate the world more consciously
and effectively.
You know, it's been one of mine.
It's been one of mine.
It is, it's one of my areas of fascination, the words that we use, the utter, the history,
the etymology of the word and how it's come to mean what it means and the evolution of
words over time and how they change over time and how they spark or trigger emotional responses
in our heads.
I mean, along with symbolism, but that's a whole different topic.
We're going to talk about words.
Words can be symbols as well.
So you know, so why is it important to understand, you know, this role of language and how it
shapes our realities?
And it's, it's so important to understand and it's, it's something we take for granted
because we're so used to just uttering sounds out of our mind based on what we've learned
and experienced and assigning a meaning to it.
I mean, have you ever really deeply thought about that?
It's pretty profound.
After all, isn't a word just a word and its meaning transcends time and never changes?
I mean, aren't words ordained by some universal deity and once created, their meaning is entirely
objective?
Of course, this is all sarcasm.
There's no such thing.
Words are just utterances that are made up over time.
They transform into from one meaning to the next meaning and we assign these emotional
reactions and thoughts and ideas and beliefs to just a word, a sound, and then we even
wage war, wars, not just war, wars over words.
So in this episode, we're going to dive into the fundamentals of language.
We're not going to get too deep, but we're going to get deep enough so that we have some
understanding and understand that words are just words and they only mean anything if
we assign that meaning to them.
If we really want to get emotionally triggered by them.
So what are words?
Have you ever thought about what a word is?
It's not something that comes up in a daily conversation.
Hey, what's a word?
I mean, you might ask what the definition of a word is and that's pretty common and
that's, you know, I think pretty standard across the board when you're communicating
with someone and you want to know what the definition is or you may not want to ask them
because you don't want to feel dumb, which is in my opinion, not dumb.
It's dumb not to ask, but you may look it up in a dictionary.
But words are basically fundamental building blocks of language.
I mean, that's all that's all a word is.
It's just it's just the building block for language.
You know, they it's a combination of sounds and letters that convey some sort of meaning
like we've talked about and words.
They represent ideas, objects, actions, feelings.
Love, I love you.
What happens when someone says, I love you?
You're like, ooh, they love me.
But it triggers an emotion, right?
You might get all goosebumps, but it's just a word.
But that word has a strong meaning to a lot of people.
And I suppose that if words didn't exist, then we could not share thoughts and emotions
and information for other people.
We'd be doing, ooh, that would actually be a word would it?
Even if you made a sound and kind of assigned a meaning to it.
I mean, then there's sign language.
Sign language actually has meaning too.
So it's not really a word or is it a word?
It's not a sound.
It's a visual word.
The words shape and reflect the culture in which they are used in.
And every culture has its set of words.
And some words may cross over into other languages and some don't.
They're only exclusive for that particular language.
If I can speak, that would be great.
And whether you think about this or not, words actually influence how we think and how we
perceive the world.
Again, it comes down to emotional reactions.
What we assign to the word impacts the perception that we have on the world.
I mean, take for a moment if you're if you're a politically charged and I bring up politics
in the podcast a lot because that's what's going on in America.
A lot of it goes on across the globe right now.
But really in the United States, we've got this great what I like to call political divide.
And why don't call that that everybody else does it.
But I just adopted it.
They have this great political divide between the right and the left.
And if someone says, for example, Trump's name, it incites people on the left.
Or if they say Biden's name, it incites people on the right.
They're just words, their names.
But they're attached to ideologies and belief systems that people on either side don't want
to hear.
They just oppose it.
And they're like, I don't want to hear about Trump.
I don't want to hear about Biden.
And here's the crazy thing.
At least I think it's crazy.
Words evolve over time.
I mean, you create a word and that word goes from one meaning at one period of time, and
then it evolves into some other meaning, but the same word.
And I'm going to take the word gay, because the word gay fascinates me and how it's transcend.
I mean, how it's evolved from its original meaning of joyful and happy from from I think
it's the French word guy, guy, gay, G.A.I.
Which meant joyful and happy and in middle English, the word gay retained the meaning
of joyful, carefree or bright and showy.
So basically it was described, it was used to describe someone with, you know, a cheerful
or lively demeanor, which I can see how it's morphed into what it is today.
But it was really an original originally a term that meant carefree or an indulgent lifestyle.
It wasn't until the mid 20th century that the word gay became used as a euphemism for
homosexuality for same sex.
And the transition from that began gradually over time.
And we saw an increase in that word in the 60s and 70s, which was influenced by the gay
rights movement.
And today gay, the word gay is predominantly used to describe a person who is attracted
to members of the same sex, specifically men.
So the point of using the word gay, it is such a charged word and it has evolved over
time from meaning something as innocent as, Oh, he's such a gay lad as in he's such a
happy carefree person guy to Oh, he's gay.
Well, he's almost sexual.
I mean, that's weird.
Or is it?
And that's not just with the word gay.
There are hundreds of words that have evolved over time and have a completely different
meaning from its original intent.
So my point is words are just sounds and they only mean something when they're assigned
meaning to the words.
So why do people get offended by certain words because they've assigned a meaning to it.
So how do you get unafended?
You just unassigned the meaning to it.
It's a lot easier said than done, right?
But really, I mean, that's that's how you do it.
I mean, I'm not offended by any word because one, I consider the source that's speaking
the word and two, it's just a word.
It doesn't change me.
Doesn't exemplify me.
It doesn't define me.
None of that happens when someone calls me a word.
I go back to that old adage sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt
me or names will never hurt me, something like that.
And it's true, it doesn't because they're just words.
And that's I think that's the way the world should be.
We would have less wars, less conflict if we didn't let the words impact us so greatly
and words play a huge role in identity.
They identify us.
We use words to identify and label all kinds of groups of people.
You know, their backgrounds, their affiliations.
He's a Christian.
She's a Jew.
He's gay.
She's straight and they're just words.
But then you say the words that they snap an emotion into your mind and in here's the
greatest feature of words in my opinion, because everything here is my opinion, they can be
used to influence, persuade and control others.
Folks, let me say that again.
Words just the sounds that are uttered from your vocal cords can influence, persuade and
control you if you allow it to.
It's amazing how a word, a sound can control you because it has a meaning.
It triggers an emotional response.
And we see that because it shapes public opinion.
It shapes policy and it shapes social norms.
It's the power of a word, a simple utterance can shape just society, can persuade people,
can hurt people, can damage relationships.
But I mean, what is the alternative?
I mean, just kind of like pointing and gesturing.
I guess that could be considered words too, but nonverbal words, the nonverbal communication
in that case.
So what is the point of understanding the impact of language?
Well, it has, it's crucial because it shapes.
It shapes our individual and our group identities.
It serves as a powerful instrument of persuasion and control.
We see it daily on the news, how it influences policy, how it influences people in sites,
ignites, get your feathers ruffled, whatever word or euphemism you want to use to spark
emotion inside of you and get you to do something.
Listen to the political rhetoric in any politics in any country.
Listen to how they use words and how they frame conversations to manipulate the masses
and people just buy into it.
They just follow blindly.
That's amazing.
And there's no universal, there's no cosmic entity that established these words and said
this word means this and I'm going to sign this emotion and you're going to do this and
react like that when that word is uttered.
There's nothing.
It's just us creating stuff and trying to live by it and being impacted by it.
We can undo that as well.
We can simply say, I'm not going to believe that that word has or incites me.
I'm not going to react that emotionally to the word.
I'm just going to accept the word as it is, consider the source and then carry on with
my business.
It's important to understand how language has been used historically, especially to exert
power over its people.
Take a look at the, go back to World War II.
I mean, I'm not saying that you're old enough to remember it or if you were even there,
but you've certainly heard about World War II.
I hope you have, unless you're on a different planet.
But, you know, all the propaganda in the United States, we had posters featuring Rosie Derivator.
Do you remember it was like that lady with the band down on her head?
Now, you know, the fist up in the air, like, you know, showing her biceps with the words
we can do it.
And then don't forget, Uncle Sam wants you, meaning the government wants you.
And basically this encouraged enlistment that promoted war bonds and supported the workforce.
These words basically were charged to get people emotionally moved to support the government's
World War II, which I'm not saying was wrong, but I'm saying the choice of words.
We could do it.
Yes, we can.
You hear that nowadays.
Or even Uncle Sam wants you.
You know, your government wants you.
It needs you.
And you're like, yes, I'm ready to fight.
Give me a gun or weapon or whatever.
And you know, even Roosevelt's fireside chats, he branded it fireside chats.
What does that mean?
How does that make you feel when you hear the word fireside chats?
First of all, those were those were conversations, radio conversations to give reassurance back
to the American people, to the public, you know, and to build a sense of unity and purpose.
But fireside chats, I mean, they were, that sounds cozy, doesn't it?
I say, hey, let's sit down for a fireside chat.
People like, oh, okay, I'll bring the marshmallows and hot chocolate and we'll sit down with
the blanket and just cozy up and chit chat a bit.
I mean, what else, what else could he have said?
Hey, let's, let's talk about why, you know, we need to build unity.
So I mean, these are words, these words incite some sort of emotional feelings.
So that's why they're chosen.
I mean, in the UK, and we use this for some reason that's come back to the United States,
keep calm and carry on.
I mean, that that was designed, that phrase, keep calm and carry on was designed to maintain
public morale during the bombings and wartime hardships.
Can you imagine trying to sell that to the public?
Keep calm and carry on bombs are falling.
You don't got food, but keep calm and carry on.
We're all good.
It worked.
It was a great campaign.
I mean, and the same happened all across the Allied powers, you know, all the propaganda,
even the Axis powers had their own propaganda.
I mean, the Nazis, the Nazis at the time, their propaganda featured very strong heroic
imagery of Aryan soldiers and citizens, you know, reinforcing basically the theme of nationalism,
racial purity.
And these visuals are basically language in itself, incited emotions, got people charged
up.
Yes, let's go fight, fight, fight.
What happened in the end?
People realized, well, that was a lot of bull.
But the words, the imagery supercharged them because they allow their emotions to get connected
to the words.
Now, I'm not saying don't get, don't get connected to words.
That's not what this whole podcast is about.
It's about bringing your attention to how words can manipulate, how words can incite.
Be aware of the words that are being spoken and why they're being spoken.
Why are they choosing certain words?
Why does the media choose certain words?
I mean, heck, let's take a look at, if you're, if you're not familiar with it, you probably
should read it.
It's a book called 1984 by George Orwell.
He was an author, a journalist, an essayist.
And basically, he used contradictory terms to manipulate the masses in his book.
And Orwell demonstrated how language could be manipulated to influence and control thought,
maintaining power over, over the masses.
That's what the media does today.
Anyways, that's what politicians do anyways.
The concept in 1984, the concept of news speak was introduced.
Basically, it's language designed to eliminate rebellious thoughts and enforce orthodoxy.
I mean, slogans, he used slogans like this.
War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
These all exemplify the use of contradictory language to suppress, to suppress critical
thinking.
Folks, critical thinking is the enemy of those who use words to manipulate critical thinking.
If you can think critically, if you could break it down, break words, break meanings
down into what they truly mean and what's really behind it and who's really speaking
about it, you are the opposition to the person using those words to influence you.
They don't like you.
That's why the government or some governments, and this is not an anti-government rant, but
this is why the media, they all play into your emotions to manipulate you.
That's why you have to outthink them with critical thinking because the words are designed
to incite the emotions which gets people up in arms and then you realize, why am I even
doing this?
Does it really even matter?
And one of my favorite, all time favorites, is the Roman politician, Cicero.
He used rhetoric to navigate these complex political landscapes of the Roman Republic.
His work for oratory, meaning his rules for oratory, are what are still used in today's
political landscape.
And not just politics, people.
I'm talking marketing, corporate rhetoric, anything that requires one to manipulate or
persuade others.
Cicero perfected ethos, pathos, and logos, which basically ethos' credibility.
Pathos is the number one thing, the number one strategy Cicero uses to manipulate or
to get into the minds of the masses.
And that is an appeal to their emotions.
His whole premise was on get into the heads, get into the emotions of the listener, of
the people, and you can persuade them, you can manipulate them into your way of thinking
or into doing things you want them to do.
And we see that in politics, we see that in news, heck, we even see it in marketing a
lot too.
And it works because it connects what the rhetoric is with the person's emotions and
gets them charged up, gets them fired up.
If I said to you in a political speech, hey, we have some people that are undocumented
and are trying to come over to this country and, you know, come into this country, that's
not as impactful as saying something like, they're coming over the border, they're killing
your kids, they're raping your wives, your daughters, they're stealing your jobs, which
one has more of an impact?
Cicero would say the latter has more of an impact, which is true.
And that's how he approached his argumentation, his rhetoric by inciting emotion.
And that's what we've seen historically.
Words used to incite emotion to get people to do things.
Now here, what I'm saying is that we need words.
Yes, I mean, it's how we communicate, folks.
I mean, that's common sense, right?
We use words to communicate, but how words are used can be done in a way to manipulate
and for the bad to cause harm.
And as a human, it is our duty, I believe, to learn critical thinking, to see past the
BS, so to speak, to see past the nonsensical sounding words and meanings and make sense
of it all, rather than just allowing it to incite us and to trigger us.
Because really, words are just fictional creations done by man in order to communicate.
And we've perfected it very well through our strategies in delivering, you know, our
rhetoric, delivering our speeches to incite those emotions.
And Cicero, none other perfected that.
He was great.
I never have a chance to pick up a book about Cicero's life in his oratory or his rules
for argumentation.
I highly recommend doing that.
You will be blown away.
You will see a lot of his rules for argumentation in today's politics.
You'll realize the strategy that he set forth is implemented today to basically screw your
mind.
Sorry for the term there, but that's what he's doing.
And that's what they're doing.
Screwing your mind.
So that's, I mean, that's not really all the history of language, but that gives us a general
overview of how language has been used in the past and history in order to manipulate
the masses and to convince them that war is okay or this way of thinking is okay, because
it's a very powerful tool against humanity.
And if we're not paying attention to it, you know, we can be taken advantage of.
We can be easily manipulated.
And if you're thinking, oh, I'm not easily manipulated.
Think about the things that you believe in right now.
How did you get to that belief system?
Words, they spark some sort of emotion inside of you.
But how does language shape who we are, both as individuals and as a group?
So what I'm trying to say is let's, let's take a look at the connection between language
and identity and how the words we use define us because we use a lot of words to define
us people.
We're always using words to define us and define everybody else.
Let's take a look at that.
Our language basically shapes our identity.
How often have you used words to identify your personal identity to identify yourself?
Think about it for a second.
I mean, words are used to identify us.
I mean, the words and phrases that we use reflect our personal identity.
And this includes, you know, it could be our background, our education, our social affiliations.
I mean, have you ever said to somebody, yeah, I'm an MBA?
Well, I don't know that you would actually go out and say, hey, I'm an MBA.
That'd be kind of weird, huh?
Your degree.
Or you can say, yeah, I'm a college graduate.
Okay.
So that identifies you as a college graduate, you know, or I'm a Native American or I'm
a Dutch or I'm German, you know, or what, or about your social affiliations.
I'm a member of the fill in the blank here, whatever it is.
You're identifying yourself using words.
Let's say, for example, let's entertain the moment and we'll say something.
I am a member of the conservative Republican party.
What do you think that will do to people who are not members of that party?
If you're speaking to, for example, a Democrat, you know, that might send some strong emotional
reactions to their mind.
But yet we use these words to identify ourselves and they're just words, right?
They're just things that help us identify who we are because it's the words, it's the
language that helps us express who we are and how we see ourselves.
I don't really particularly like labels.
You can't label me.
I mean, you can label me.
You can say whatever you want about me.
It's not going to impact me, how I think or feel about myself, but I don't label myself.
I don't go around saying I'm a Republican.
I'm a Democrat.
I'm a Jew.
I'm a Christian.
I'm a Muslim.
I don't say anything like that because it's really irrelevant to me on what you call me
or what I call myself.
I'm just a human being.
It's happenstance.
I'm a freak of nature.
Just like everyone else.
We're just here.
You know, we just exist.
Now of course I use words to communicate and to identify things in order to make it easy
for other people to communicate and understand what I'm saying.
But when it comes down to it, I'm not identifying myself with a set of these fictional, created
words so that I can say I'm part of this group or I'm this here.
When someone says what's your nationality, I say human.
They look at me like what?
I'm human.
I'm a human species.
I don't really subscribe to any culture or nationality.
I mean, I'm a U.S. citizen.
And again, that's pure fictionality because it's made up.
It's subjective, right?
It just happened to be born in the U.S. What does that even mean?
And another fun one with words is it helps identify groups, group identity.
We use these words to form these group identities that we belong to or these sports teams that
we're fans of.
And we do these chants.
We yell these slogans and it just reinforces these beliefs within us about a subjective
reality of these words, of these identities of who we are.
And we reinforce that.
You ever talk to somebody and they keep repeating what they are?
I'm a Christian.
I'm a Muslim.
Okay.
Good for you.
But they're reinforcing their identity so you understand who they are and what's the
purpose of that?
Well, they want you to know where they stand religiously.
They want you to know who you're dealing with.
It might be a precursor or a warning to stay away from certain topics with me or it might
be something they're throwing out there to help identify who they are in hopes that you
might be like minded and say, Oh, I am as you are type of thing.
But again, the point I'm trying to draw here is that these are just words that are identifying
people's groups.
So they identify with a certain group.
They belong to a certain group.
There's a certain ideology in that group and they're giving themselves a label and saying,
This is what I am.
But when the reality of it is, is that what you really are?
Are you really that person?
Or are you just identifying with some sort of belief system?
And another powerful use of words is through cultural reflection.
I mean, language reflects and perpetuates cultural values and social norms.
People, it carries our traditions, you know, our beliefs and the practices of our culture
and more specifically, how people in that culture perceive the world and how they should
perceive the world.
So again, you're born a human.
I hope you're born a human.
I mean, I don't know how many cats and dogs are listening to me, but you're born and then
you're thrust into a culture or society which has its own set of a language or has its own
language and set of values and belief systems and words that it uses to identify all that
stuff.
And it shapes your perception of reality of the world around you.
If you were born the same person, you in a different culture, you would have a set of
different set of words and values and identities that defined you and who you are.
So really, it's the words that are identifying you.
It's setting you, it's giving you that purpose.
It's giving you that identity.
It's not the person itself.
I don't know if you ever spoke Pig Latin.
It's not a real language.
But it's a language kids tend to speak.
And I don't remember how it goes.
It's like you put the A, you take the first letter or something, put an A at the end or
something.
But in any event, it's a language, it's slang, so to speak.
And it's a language that kids use or would use in order to keep adults from understanding
what they're saying, but they didn't realize this adults created that when they were kids
too.
So we understood it.
But what it does is what that slang does, like the Pig Latin or even Ebonics with the
African American cultures in the United States, and it may be abroad, I don't know, create
these languages that help identify their own groups.
So the language itself, the slang itself is like a subculture.
It's like a different set of language to help identify that group.
And for them to communicate amongst each other, I personally don't understand any of it, especially
the slang that's used today with the teenagers.
I don't get half of what they're saying.
Even the words, they don't even, the words don't even make sense to me.
They don't even jive.
That was slang jive.
They don't even match with what they're trying to say.
It's just some made up words.
So I'm thinking, I don't even know what you're saying, which is probably exactly the point,
right?
The words don't mean anything to me, but it means something to them, which identifies
them as a group, which sets them apart.
So words are used to help express our own identity groups we belong to.
How we identify with the world.
How we identify with other cultures.
How we're separate from other cultures.
How we're different, I mean, different separate.
Same thing.
How we are similar to other groups.
You know, what, what makes us unique?
We have to have this sense of uniqueness.
And so we use words in order to identify that.
And these words can carry very emotionally charged meanings oftentimes.
If we don't like a specific group and they identify themselves as that group, we get
emotionally charged over it.
Again, it comes down to the utterances of sounds, which we make or assign meaning to,
I guess the whole point here, folks, the whole point is understanding that words manipulate
words, shape our reality.
And if we were privy to that, if we understood that, if we were better critical thinkers,
we wouldn't get so emotionally charged over these words that identify these groups or
that identify beliefs or, or, or anything else about humanity.
And I think the greatest violator of the greatest violator of using words to manipulate is both
the media and political landscape, how they frame conversations, how they take and twist
using certain words in order to really manipulate.
We touched on that a little bit earlier, especially with Cicero's oratory, his rules
for discussion and language, but how the media and politicians use language, reframe the
language in order to incite, incite the public.
I mean, that's the most fascinating thing to me.
And people buy into this, people who listen to it and go, Oh, that's true.
That's true.
But there's no truth or validity to it.
But they buy into it.
The media uses sensationalism and clickbait to hook people.
I mean, they often use sensational language and provocative headlines to capture your
attention and help them drive traffic, especially online.
And what does the sensational language and provocative headlines do to capture your attention?
And they shape public perception by emphasizing certain events or perspectives over others.
And again, I briefly mentioned this earlier, if you hear a news story about illegal immigrants
in caravans coming over the border to kill your family, that's sensationalism because
that's not even the truth.
I mean, some Europe's depending on your political leaning, you're gonna go, Yeah, it is the
truth.
It's not the truth.
But yet media will sensationalize that to get people to act, to incite them, to get
them to click over to their news story and sell them ad space or ads.
And that's really what the headlines and media are for, really.
I mean, they're designed to get you to read their news.
They want to sell more newspapers or they want to sell more ad space or they want to
sell more time on their website.
And they use, I mean, the way they do this is they use emotionally charged words like,
you know, the word shocking or unbelievable or outrage to attract to attract you to their
website.
You know, and these words, these words, shocking, unbelievable or outrage, peak your interest.
They get your curiosity, like, Oh, what's outrageous?
What's unbelievable?
What is so shocking?
And you get this emotional response and you're like, click, click, click, click, click.
Then you're on the website.
Next thing you know, you're sucked into the news story, reading every word for word.
And it's becoming emotionally overwhelmed by it.
Maybe not emotionally overwhelmed, but you know what I'm talking about.
You're getting charged up over the over the word, the language being used when none of
it's really probably that serious.
And the media uses language and words over and over and over again to drive their agenda
into your minds, folks.
It's not by luck.
It's by design.
For example, climate change.
If a specific news agency, and that's a whole podcast on how the news is run and how the
media is run, but if a specific agency news media wants to push an agenda, they'll do
that by repetitiveness.
They'll constantly repeat the words.
Climate change, climate change.
And again, this isn't the conversation about whether climate change is real or not.
Either way, it doesn't matter for this podcast.
But what I'm saying is they use those terms, they use words that incite to get you to believe
and help change the policy or something.
I mean, the media back in the day, even today, I shouldn't even say back in the day, the
media is America's foreign policy, because what it does, if it wants to change something
in government, it starts putting it out there, inciting the people which help them or which
get them to call their representatives to change laws or to act on something going on
in another part of the world.
They know what they're doing, and they're using you as the masses to do their dirty
work through words, just words that incite you.
And depending on the news that you're listening to or the propaganda that you're listening
to, framing, and we've touched on this earlier, framing is a big thing.
And basically, if you don't understand framing, it refers to how information is presented
to highlight basically certain aspects while downplaying others.
So we go back to the example of the immigrants are coming over the border, they're coming
in caravans to kill your family, you know, they're framing it in a very negative way,
versus they could be saying, well, there's some undocumented workers or 100 of them
coming.
It's untypical.
I mean, it's not it's common for that to happen.
And they're trying to get across the border into America for a better life.
See the difference in the choice of words we use to frame the conversation to get you
to react to get you all worked up.
Another example is for tax cuts.
What is my favorite tax relief tax relief sounds so positive.
It's like the government's given us some sort of relief on taxes when they're not really
doing anything.
They're just cutting some of the taxes that they're taking.
But again, the language, the language is what's important here.
And it's what people assign to it with the, the meaning.
It's what insights them and it's what gets them moving and going.
I mean, in the media and people, not just the media, but even corporations, they use
euphemisms.
I mean, great orators, great communicators and people who give presentations and speeches
and argumentation use euphemisms.
Euphemisms help soften.
You know, they're mild, mild ways of explaining harsh realities or expressions.
For example, instead of saying something like, yeah, there's a lot of casualties in this
military operation.
What's the word they use collateral damage softens it up a bit doesn't make a look sound
doesn't make it sound so bad.
Or when there's a lot of job layoffs in a company or a sector industry sector, what do they
call that downsizing?
Or downsizing that makes it softer.
It's like, we're not going out of business.
There's nothing really wrong.
We're just kind of restructuring and just kind of cutting a, cutting a little bit of
our staff or downsizing ourselves.
We're not laying off people, which is untrue.
They're laying off people and slogans.
Slogans are another good one to manipulate the mind.
Basically they're little phrases, you know, and they're used in political campaigns all
the time and they're designed to unify the create this unified identity.
And here's a good one.
Make America great again.
I mean, if you think about it, when was America not great?
When was any country not great to their people?
I mean, okay, maybe there's a few.
I can't say that every country's been great.
But in the United States, make America great again.
I don't know that it was ever not great or if it was ever great.
But the fact that the Trump campaign capitalized on that really incited people to begin to
think, yeah, America doesn't fit what I think America should be.
So let's make it great again, even though they realize that maybe it was always the
same way.
You know, but again, these slogans help incite people to get them all worked up, get them
emotionally involved for what?
You know, to change policy, to make a change for who?
Not for them.
But media is no different.
I mean, the drug campaign in America, just say no or ugg to drugs, you know, which are
good because you want to get this into the people's heads and it could be used for good.
So I'm not saying all language and all words are used to manipulate in a bad way.
It could be used in a good way as well.
If it's done, if it's done properly, we don't want people on drugs running around drugs.
Drugs are expensive to society.
They kill people.
So just say no, you know, it was a great campaign.
I mean, aside from the media, the news and marketing, you know, you also have political
speeches.
Political speeches use, use rhetorical devices and language to manipulate, persuade, motivate
and maybe even inspire audiences.
Take a look at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s.
I have a dream speech.
I mean, repeated, I have a dream many times in his speech.
And what did that speak to?
That speak that spoke to a group of people who wanted to be part of the freedom that
the rest of the people in America enjoyed.
And this was a dream of Martin Luther King's and it resonated with so many people.
And that's a positive thing, not necessarily a negative thing.
And we see words used differently nowadays throughout all kinds of mediums, whether it
be the media, whether it be, you know, politics, they have one universal theme and that's the
hashtag done on social media, hashtag Black Lives Matters, hashtag me too.
All of these, you see these and you become emotionally aroused one way or the other,
either you like or dislike, and you may be indifferent to it completely.
But that's a different story.
The language and media and politics, they are powerful tools for shaping public opinion.
And it's all in how they use the language, how they frame the conversations, the hashtags
they use, you know, the phrases they use in order to get people to act, to inspire them,
to motivate them for their political gain.
But how does all of this political and media rhetoric impact our minds?
What are the cognitive and psychological aspects of language on our minds?
I mean, that's an interesting question, because I know it manipulates people and it incites
them, it gets them charged up.
But what else does it do?
Well, for starters, it influences our thought process, language, words influence our thought
process.
It shapes the way we think by providing these frameworks through which we process information
and form ideas.
And that's what really drives us, right?
It's our ideas, our ideology, it's our beliefs.
I mean, in the structure of language, the words itself influence our cognitive processes,
which includes our memory, attention, and problem-solving ability.
So it has a powerful impact on our thought process.
And that's without saying, I know you're probably saying, well, no kidding, Sherlock.
But again, the point I'm driving is depending on the words, depending on the language.
For example, people who speak two languages, bilingual people, they often report different
emotional responses and decision-making patterns based on the language they're using, which
basically demonstrates the cognitive impact of linguistic context, language context, in
which the words are used.
So that's significant.
And another one that you're probably not cognizantly aware of is that it shapes our perception.
Language and words affects how we perceive and categorize the world around us.
I'll give you an example.
Some languages have multiple words for specific concepts.
For example, in the Inuit languages, the word snow, there's multiple words for the word
snow.
Multiple words in the Inuit language.
Whereas other languages may just have one word for that, for snow, which is snow.
And what's the impact of this here, of having multiple words for a single concept in a language?
Well, it has an impact on one's perception and how they categorize the different types
of snow.
It becomes that much more important to their culture.
And then there's the Saphir-Wolf hypothesis.
Now this is where language shapes thought.
And the Saphir-Wolf hypothesis is also referred to as linguistic relativity.
Just another way of identifying that hypothesis, if you've heard of linguistic relativity.
And it basically states that the structure of language affects the speaker's worldview
and their cognition.
So I'll give you an example.
In languages where there's gendered nouns, like in Spanish, you know, the speaker may
associate certain qualities, certain qualities with objects based on the grammatical gender.
And what does this do to your mind?
It influences your perceptions and thoughts about that object.
So if an object's masculine, it has one perception.
And if it's feminine, it has another perception.
And so the speaker of that language would tend to view objects with those genders one
way or another based on the gendered language.
I mean, that's a significant in its own right.
How you treat certain objects, because you have a predisposition to treat males differently
than you do women.
And then it all comes down to language.
It's learned behavior.
And there's ample research to show that language can influence emotional experiences.
Basically, the words we use to describe our feelings can shape how we experience and regulate
our emotions.
It's just the mere words that we choose to use about emotion can help regulate those
emotions.
And what the research shows is that by labeling these emotions, we can help people.
We can help ourselves manage and reduce the intensity of the emotion.
That's pretty powerful.
Just through the use of language, of words, we can regulate our emotions.
Again, the powerful impact of these words and the meanings we assign to them has a profound
impact on our cognition and our emotions and our perceptions.
And words as I have discussed earlier in this podcast can start out with one meaning and
evolve into something completely different.
I mean, that's a pretty profound concept that one word at one point meant one thing and
it's evolved into something else.
And it's the same word, but it incites people differently over time.
So again, it comes back down to the utterances and sounds we make and the impact they have
on our emotions and psyche.
So what do we do about this here?
How do we handle this?
Do we even need to handle it?
I don't even know if we need to handle it, but I just want you to be fully aware that
words are just that, words, unless you assign a meaning to it.
Give it some sort of definition and assign an emotion to it.
I mean, then I guess there's no easy, there's no easy way out of language, meaning there's
no escape from the words and what they mean to us because they've been ingrained into
us as a child by the influences around us, be it our family, school, church, politics,
friends, foes.
It's all helped impact us and influence us with the words that were used.
But the question is, what are you going to do with that?
Well, you're going to continue on your life with that.
That's number one.
There's not a lot you can do there, but you can begin to understand how the words have
an impact on you and begin to better understand that impact and manage that in a more reasonable
way without getting overly excited over a word, you know, not letting that word hurt
your feelings or get you politically or I mean emotionally charged about politics or
about anything else in life because it's just a word, right?
Here's what I want you to do.
See, I'm already manipulating you with my words.
No, what I want you to do is become more aware of the words that you use daily.
Self-awareness is actually the first step toward understanding how the language you
use impacts yourself and others.
So what you can do or what would be a great thing for you to do or a suggestion that I
have for you is to keep a diary for at least a week, keep it for a week.
I mean, you may want to keep it longer.
It depends on how much research you want to do on yourself and your language and your
words you've used, but at least do a diary for a week.
You know, it could be like a piece of paper.
You walk around with it, maybe even if you want to use a recorder and take note of the
instances where language has influenced your emotions or maybe someone else's emotions,
maybe made someone cry or laugh or angry, you know, write down the emotions, the thoughts
or the interactions that you've had with the words and see if you can find patterns and
areas for improvement in the language that you use and the word choices that you use
with people.
I mean, it's a good self-reflective exercise.
And when you're with family, take a look at the words that you or listen to the words
that you use.
I don't know that you can actually see them coming out unless you're writing them down.
Listen to the words that you use with family and friends and your relationships, you know,
like your intimate relationships or relationships with colleagues.
What kind of language are you using?
Are you using positive words, negative words?
Think about that.
I mean, try complimenting somebody, maybe apologizing, maybe give them some criticism, see how you
express that towards the other person and how they receive that information.
Take note of that.
These will help you become more self-aware of the language that you use on a daily basis.
It will help you understand the choices, the word choices that you use and how people perceive
it and how it has an impact on you and your relationship with this person.
And that could be a very powerful exercise and a fun one too.
But don't go off becoming mean to everybody and criticizing them just to get their reaction.
That's something I would do.
Not really, but really.
And once you've discovered the words that you use, you know, use mindfulness when you're
using, when you're expressing yourself.
I mean, communicate use words or choose words.
What I mean is choose words carefully.
You know, consider the potential impact they're going to have before speaking.
And the great way to do this is to pause before you speak, before responding to a conversation
or if you're in a heated argument or disagreement with someone, pause before you speak.
Think about that word you were going to use and how that might have an impact on the overall
conversation and the relationship.
You'll be surprised that if you take that pause and think about the word that you were
going to use and it's not a good word and swap it out for something not as intense,
you might change the course of that conversation and the outcome of it and use positive framing.
And what I mean, and I'm talking during conversations you have and maybe maybe you're at work with
up here, maybe you're a boss or you're with you're talking to your spouse or significant
other or your children, you know, try to avoid framing it as in don't forget to do something
say something like remember to because when you tell someone don't forget to you're implying
that they're forgetful.
That's an incendiary phrase with a lot of people because the response you're going to
get is I was I going to forget.
They're going to be sarcastic and respond.
You know, try reframing your conversations and your words into a positive tone and one
good way to make certain that your word choice is effective is to be an active listener.
Listen actively, focus, pay attention to the person.
Don't be distracted.
Listen to their words, understand their words because it will keep you from reacting with
other words that might incite them in a way that you don't want to or maybe you do want
to.
I don't know.
I'll leave that up to you and scrutinize the language that you hear.
You know, identify manipulation.
A good way is to avoid or to recognize, recognize language that provokes fear or urgency.
For example, if you see an ad says, you must act now, I mean, do you really have to act
now and always apply critical thinking?
I know critical thinking is not easy to do often, but question the speaker.
Ask yourself who benefits from the message being delivered and why is the message being
presented in the specific way that it is.
And we're going to go back.
The best way to do this is to listen to the news.
Listen to both sides politically, the left and the right and listen to how they frame
the conversations and ask yourself, why is this information being presented this way?
Is it to incite me to align their values with my values so that I stick around and listen
to them more and get really angry about it?
Because that's what usually it is.
And I encourage you to use language or specifically words that empower yourself, that empower
you, that reflects your values and promotes clarity and honesty.
And again, these are subjective terms, I understand that, but you want to promote honesty.
You want to promote a positive environment because that's where you're going to get the
most bang for your buck with people is by being honest, authentic and positive, which
authenticity would encompass the honesty and positivity.
You know, language is an incredibly powerful tool that shapes our thoughts, that shapes
our behaviors, our identities, and the very fabric of our society or anyone's society
and understanding the power of language empowers us to communicate more consciously and effectively.
And if we just reflect on our own use of words and be mindful of the impact it has on others
and recognize manipulate of language, we can navigate our world with greater awareness
and integrity.
Because basically folks, language has the potential to build bridges, inspire change,
and create a more connected and empathetic society.
And when you have that, then you have harmony, you have peace, you have people willing to
work together.
I want to thank you.
I know I rambled a lot, but I do want to thank you from the bottom of my heart or the top
of it or the middle of it or whatever part of the heart that I'm thanking you with.
I want to thank you for joining me on this journey through the power of language, the
power of words.
And I really hope that this episode has provided you with some valuable insights and practical
tools to use language more thoughtfully in your daily life and encounters.
And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to Life Unsubscripted from your
favorite podcast channel and share it with your friends.
And I would love for you to leave us a review.
It would really mean the world to me if you did.
It would give me some insights into what you're thinking and what you want to hear more about.
Because I read those reviews.
Folks, I'm Alan Stafford and this has been Life Unscripted.
Remember, life has no scripts and every day is an opportunity to write your own story.
Until next time, take care and stay curious my friend.