Language

I read this interesting article in the Australian this week, Don Watson, (the former speech writer for Paul Keating, and author of Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, and Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language)

In the article he talks of the decay of language from our leaders, and the vision statements of our blue chip companies. The language we have left is the;

language of management – for which read the language of virtually all corporations and companies, large and small, public service departments, government agencies, libraries, galleries and universities, the military, intelligence organisations and, increasingly, politics – this language that cannot describe or convey any human emotion, including the most basic ones such as happiness, sympathy, greed, envy, love or lust. You cannot tell a joke in this language, or write a poem, or sing a song. It is language without human provenance or possibility.

In the article he talks about the importance of language, and how, language unites us to the world, and to each other; its mangling always means those tethers are broken.

The paragraph with which he closes his article is quite striking, its constructed from John 1…

In the beginning was the Word. And in the Word was the truth – and the heart and the mind. And if you take it away from us, we are poorer and the democracy is weaker. If anyone else feels that this country is not the home it was, I think they should go to the words, before we lose the power of sensible speech altogether.

The political-speak we see, with Bush, Blair, and Howard, is not inspiring, is not active.. it does not provoke us like we speeches of yester-year, for example, Lincoln, Kennedy or King.

I really want to spend some time reading and reflecting on it. Is it Orwell who talks about our freedom, and ideas are tied into to our language, and to take our ability to express is to begin to take our freedoms??

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It has been a lovely week … I turned 26 this Tuesday, November 11. It was a different birthday, for starters, it’s the first birthday since I’ve moved out, but on top of that my parents were having a much deserved holiday in Tasmania, and my sister is over in London, as I mentioned earlier.

It was really nice to come down and have dinner with Karen and Ben. I remember meeting Karen, the first year I was at Uni, and we were paying to go to MYC in 1996. Karen’s birthday fell during the week, and I remember spending the last night chatting with her. Which was really awesome. I really treasure the friendship of both Karen and Ben, that have always been there to lend an ear, and above all, they are true examples of what it means to follow Jesus.

I’m down in Wollongong again now, spending the day with my parents, and brother, celebrating my birthday. Tomorrow, I’m heading back to Sydney, to farewell a couple of friends from England, who will be flying back to England on Tuesday.