9:47 AM
Words have as much or as little power as we choose to give them. We can choose to be offended by words or we can choose to pass it by. And, ironically, it's more often than not folks from the wealthier countries (in Europe and North America) who obsess over "good words" and "bad words" to the point of dementia. I think we're wasting a lot of our collective time by filling the empty hours with trying to find the inner meaning of something that either isn't there or is pretty pointless when you get right down to it.
Take blogging for example. Blogging is a healthy obsession by which we air out our collective psyches. I enjoy venting or laughing at stuff that might be preoccupying me at any given moment. For the first time since I started this thing, I've received feedback about something that might be construed, if we were inclined to think that way, as offensive. Not once, but twice. I got two phone calls last night... one from Bill Rutherford, HMGS Secretary, trying to be the middleman for parties that stated that I had offended the entire United States military by the use of the phrase "Major PP" (or at least anyone who has attained the rank of major and above). Apparently the combination of "PP" and "Major" generates a deadly insult to our armed forces and I'm being unpatriotic using "Major" and "PP" together. It took me a moment to understand what they were getting at.. and now I do, I think it's pretty hilarious, and ridiculous at the same time. I use nicknames all the time, as do many people in clubs and societies. I'm known as "WaltOH" in some groups, which is mild and meaningless.
My point is that it's the resistance to words that gives words their power.. by making a bugaboo about this minor flap, now it's stuck in my mind. Ignore a word, and it goes away (you hope). LAUGH at a word, and you rob that word of all its power. When we laugh at ourselves, we develop a healthy sense of proportion.
If I can borrow a great line from Lenny Bruce's most infamous comedy routine here:
So let's start laughing, and stop worrying about stupid things, eh?
With that said, I'm very glad that Pete's name isn't: Major Brian Miller!
Take blogging for example. Blogging is a healthy obsession by which we air out our collective psyches. I enjoy venting or laughing at stuff that might be preoccupying me at any given moment. For the first time since I started this thing, I've received feedback about something that might be construed, if we were inclined to think that way, as offensive. Not once, but twice. I got two phone calls last night... one from Bill Rutherford, HMGS Secretary, trying to be the middleman for parties that stated that I had offended the entire United States military by the use of the phrase "Major PP" (or at least anyone who has attained the rank of major and above). Apparently the combination of "PP" and "Major" generates a deadly insult to our armed forces and I'm being unpatriotic using "Major" and "PP" together. It took me a moment to understand what they were getting at.. and now I do, I think it's pretty hilarious, and ridiculous at the same time. I use nicknames all the time, as do many people in clubs and societies. I'm known as "WaltOH" in some groups, which is mild and meaningless.
My point is that it's the resistance to words that gives words their power.. by making a bugaboo about this minor flap, now it's stuck in my mind. Ignore a word, and it goes away (you hope). LAUGH at a word, and you rob that word of all its power. When we laugh at ourselves, we develop a healthy sense of proportion.
If I can borrow a great line from Lenny Bruce's most infamous comedy routine here:
| The point? That the word's suppression gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness, If President Kennedy got on television and said, "Tonight I'd like to introduce the niggers in my cabinet," and he yelled "niggerniggerniggerniggerniggerniggernigger" at every nigger he saw, "boogeyboogeyboogeyboogeyboogey, niggerniggerniggernigger" till nigger didn't mean anything any more, till nigger lost its meaning - you'd never make any four-year-old nigger cry when he came home from school. Screw "Negro!" Oh, it's so good to say, "Nigger! Boy!" "Hello, Mr. Nigger, how're you?" |
So let's start laughing, and stop worrying about stupid things, eh?
With that said, I'm very glad that Pete's name isn't: Major Brian Miller!
