Words — Part 2 Communication and Manipulation

Part One: Words are just a mapping onto reality

Here’s a word: “disvere”. It is the feeling of emptiness and world-weariness often following the celebration of a major victory or accomplishment. And I just made it up because anyone can make up words.

But learning a new word is not free so there better be a use. Just by thinking and saying “disvere”, my mental state can be transplanted through the air to a listener’s mind that knows the definition. This is basically mind control. With enough words, I can communicate any idea or information to someone. Though, I might have to spend thousands of words explaining a concept and then wrap it up in a nice verbal box like “supply and demand” or “USA”.

Effectively communicating an idea requires only communicating NEW information. Empathy for the person before you becomes essential. What do they know? What do they need to know? How are they incorrectly thinking about the world? How much do they trust you? Empathy is how great teachers can expertly fill in your mental gaps and how great speakers can create a frenzy of excitement. One must understand the context of other’s mind.

But language can become a tool for manipulation. Instead of attempting to communicate information, language becomes a precise tool to drive action. In ads and political speeches, short slogans and labels drive a prick in your mind aiming to leverage your ideas, insecurities, and prejudices to stir deep emotion. “Limited time offer $9.99.” “Meat is murder.” “Make America great again.” Language is crafted and facts framed to derive the biggest response from the smallest sentence. The actual mapping of the statement onto reality becomes an afterthought. Truth gets traded for control and toxic ideas driving consumerism and division spread.