Words Can Never Hurt Me…And Other Lies
I have been thinking about things we were told as kids by parents that were patently untrue (or highly unlikely). “Don’t play with that stick; you’ll poke your eye out.’ “If you keep making faces like that it’s gonna get stuck that way.” Somewhere there is an island where we have shipped all the kids who are missing an eye or whose faces have permanently frozen in some hideous expression.
But to me the king of false phrases is “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” As an aside, the first part of this chant “sticks and stones may break my bones” is hardly reassuring. I religiously watched Lost this season where stones did much more than break bones, and being hit by sticks (tree limbs actually) caused one character to forget how to speak English. Is this a common ailment from being hit by sticks? Who believes that words can never hurt? Certainly there is growing awareness of the effects of bullying and cyberbullying. Children who are bullied are more likely to have lower self-esteem; higher rates of depression, loneliness, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts; and these emotional scars can continue into adulthood.
Words can never hurt? The Southern Poverty Law Center reported a 54 percent rise in hate groups during the last decade. The hate bubbled over during the “debate” over health care. Conservative pundits claimed Obama was a socialist, a Muslim and a racist who often mimicked the tactics of Hitler and was turning the country over to a one-world government . As I noted in an earlier blog, as the health care bill came up for a vote, there were reports that several members of the Congressional Black Caucus had racial epithets hurled at them by angry protesters, and openly gay congressman Rep Barney Frank was heckled with anti-gay chants.
Pew Research recently did a survey looking at the public’s reactions to words. While the overall results were not surprising, some of the partisan breakdowns and age breakdowns were. Not surprisingly, we as a country love family values (89 percent) and civil rights (87 percent) and are not so fond of militia (21 percent) and socialism (29 percent). But if you don’t think the hijinks on Wall Street make a difference, only 52 percent have a favorable opinion of capitalism. Even 29 percent of Republicans had a negative view on capitalism. Isn’t that like 29 percent of kids not liking candy and ice cream?
Some of the partisan differences were interesting. A plurality of Democrats (44 percent) have a favorable impression of socialism (The conservative commentators are right! The most socialist president ever has infected the views of the rank and file!!). A third of Republicans had negative views of the word “progressive,” (you certainly don’t want to be associated with progress), likely because it is the sneaky term that liberals use to advance their views. Fifteen percent of Democrats had a negative slant on family values. How can you oppose family values? (Actually, this shows the power to define a term along specific ideological lines).
Perhaps the most interesting result is that the youngest respondents 18-29 are equally likely to have a favorable view of socialism and capitalism which suggests that all that exposure to left-leaning college professors is having its intended effects (Comrades! Look at our success!!).
I was disappointed that the survey didn’t include the terms “conservative” and “liberal.” I just witnessed the last days of a governor campaign where the two candidates argued who was the true conservative. Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I can’t remember the last election in which Democrats used the L-word to describe their values and argued which candidate was more liberal.
I am curious to hear what you think. Which of those words do you have a positive and negative attitude toward? To what degree do you think that either conservatives or liberals have co-opted certain words from the list? And what is it with you Millennials for having equally positive views of capitalism and socialism?