Engaging with the Politics of Word Power

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Today's poem first appeared on the blog in 2017. Meanwhile, I plod on with trying to compile a new collection ...

Now, we all use word power as a means of communication. Where would we be without language? Yet, too often, I suspect, we underestimate the power of words to influence us, for better or worse, depending on how and why they are targeting us. TV, Radio, advertising, social media, one-to ones with family and friends...all claiming to have our best interests at heart. Some do, of course, while others may well have ulterior motives we can easily fail to spot behind every noun, verb and pronoun employed in such a way as to try and influence, distract even do us harm as gossip past and present can bear witness.

Words alone are harmless enough, of course; it is how we use them that can make or break the toughest ego, so what chance the more vulnerable among us? Tone, body language, manipulating interpretation by use of satirical expression loaded with double meaning... all these and more can -and not infrequently are - used as weapons acceptable to society as a whole until fall-out occurs that catches the attacker/s out and demands investigation; we should remember, too, that these same weapons can be used in our defence, although the context is often far from clear, especially where an experienced wordsmith is involved.

At school, years ago, my old English teacher told the class never to take words or groups of words - in written or spoken language - at face value unless we are sure they mean us no harm; the former in particular can be so easily misinterpreted although the spoken word, too, especially if it contradicts certain points if view we may already have reached by ourselves. How we are feeling at any given time also plays a part; if vulnerable for any reason, we are as likely to take words of support or encouragement for criticism as we are to take the art of flattery and ill-motivated persuasion at face value.

How can we tell what's what? Well, there is no sure failsafe, but there is much to be said for the recipient's not jumping to conclusions without due consideration of what has been said and what may or may not have been intended; the writer or speaker, too, needs to consider in what context he or she is using certain words and look for alternatives where the intended meaning can be in the least misconstrued.

Language is far more pliable than many of us give it credit for; in the wrong hands, it can shoot us down, just as in the right hands it can prove just the pick-me-up we need. "Beware flattery most of all," my old teacher said, "Flatterers invariably have hidden motives that are unlikely to be in your best interests, whether in the longer or shorter term. Whatever, the chances are you will end up feeling misled, conned, betrayed... such is the dark side of the Politics of Word Power.

ENGAGING WITH THE POLITICS OF WORD POWER

I know not who, what, where, 

yet I feel it's here at the heart of me, 

no less a part of me than sun, 

moon, stars and rain nurturing 

a world that, when all's said 

and done, knows little for certain 

once its fine rhetoric begun working

its mischief

Mind-body-spirit, but left 

in the dark, once a force for good, 

but not here, tearful victim 

of word power putting us down 

for aspiring to better things, 

better ways than else we'd know 

but for a sense of its brighter light

leading the way

World, its rhetoric on the ear

where none so deaf as will not hear,

what any mind-body-spirit 

has to say regarding its concerns

for our being fed the poetry

of whatever it may take to gull us

into giving way to word power worthy

of Machiavelli

Wherever contemporary dogma 

wears its glad rags, a silvery tongue

ensuring innuendo hits its mark,

we need to beware winks and smiles

on the face of tigers who'd see us

in hell rather than miss the chance

take our place whenever opportunity

making a play

Trust human instinct to win the day,

get the better of rhetoric, rip its finery

into shreds and let them lie

for life's caretakers to sweep and bin,

stronger, kinder companions

to word power looking on, resolving

not to let pretty language have its way

with us again 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; 2019

[Note: An earlier version of this poem first appeared under the title 'In a Word' in an anthology, In the Dreams of Angels, Triumph House [Forward Press] 2001 and subsequently in my first collection Love and Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2000; it has been substantially revised.]