Hey Everyone!
This is my first blog posting, so I thought I'd introduce myself to the progressive U community!
In the process of writing this blog, I hope to learn more about the world and what young people like us can do to affect change in it. Have you ever heard the nursery rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?" Well, I think that whoever wrote this had it backwards -words have more power than any other tool in the history of human kind. Words are what distinguish us from other animals, what allow us to be ethical or not, wise or not, and progressive or not. I hope that though my words and yours, we can create a place where words meet ideas, and ideas meet action.
Looking Forward to an Awesome Blogging Experience,
gregka09
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Eh. Words can do nothing. Action can. Some of us spend too much talking or writing and not enough doing.
True. But without words, no one would get a lot accomplished either. Without words, there would be no social justice, no philosophy, no poetry, etc.
I think the relationship between words and action, at least for the sake of doing 'right', is somewhat of a chicken- and-egg-esque relationship.
Here is a quote about -words- from one of my favorite Philosopher’s, Daniel C. Dennett: "
Conversation unites us. We can know a great deal about what is like to be a Norwegian fisherman or a Nigerian taxi drive, an eighty-year-old nun or a five-year-old boy blind boy from birth, a chess master or a prostitute or a fighter pilot. We can know much more about these topics than we can know what it's like (if anything) to be a dolphin, or even a chimpanzee. No matter how different from one another we are, scattered around the globe, we can explore our differences and communicate about them. No matter how similar to one another wildebeests are, standing shoulder to shoulder in a herd, they cannot know much on anything about their similarities. They can have similar experiences, side by side, but they really can’t share experiences the way we do."
(Kinds of Minds, 10)
Yeah, well. Nothing like a good conversation to solve a problem.
Yes.
I have been thinking about this saying a lot lately: "Sticks and stones maybe break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
I wonder what members of the field of psychology would say on this topic. If someone tells a teenage girl that she is fat or ugly, she may develop an eating disorder or withdraw from her friends at school. The words of others will have lifelong consequences for her.
I agree that words are one of the things that set us apart from all other species. Humans are the only beings that we know of that can communicate verbally.
The high rate of divorce in our society is a reflection of a degrading level of communication. Perhaps American marriages are less likely to work nowadays because human beings generally believe that only sticks and stones are harmful. Words cause damage, too.
Hey, cool post.
And welcome!
:)
Also, I totally agree. There is no substitute for conversation, or for great literature, for that matter. True, there is no substitute for action either. But words have documented our history, from the dialogues of Plato to the epics of Homer. And you're right--there is a chicken-and-egg relationship. Action without critical thinking and conversation can be rash and half-hazard. Through conversation we embrace our human rights and efficacy in the world, and bring action to the first ammendment.
Oh, and I thought that I was the only one out there who loved Daniel C. Dennett?
:)
Allison
"Be the change you want to see in the world" ~Mahatma Gandhi