The first post ever. Allow me to start off by saying that I am very new to this form of media. I have heard a lot about blogs but the entire of scope of the whole movement somehow managed to evade my intellectual prowess. I knew a few people a while back that had "live journal" accounts but i never really got to interested. This was back while I was still rather young mentally (not to say that i am an adult when it comes to learning or life in general. when it comes to this i will always be young at heart) and back in those times i was still rather judgmental about people and about engaging in activities that appeared to only attract the kind of people that just quite frankly, acted as if being depressed and having an elitist mentality was the only way to get by in this lifetime. But now here I am with a new understanding of what the culture is about and a with a vigor to "voice" my own thoughts and understandings about many aspects of our society and human civilization as a whole.
As of right now, i firmly believe that communication is the rocket that boosts human beings into the upper reaches of a heaven that some refer to as the mind. Every aspect of our society would be in hellish environment of confusion and chaos if communication was suddenly shut down. Especially right now when most people rely on the internet and most of thier livelihoods are controlled via a few clicks of the mouse and the waiting of a downlaoding webpage. Lets take it a step further though. What would you do if after you were done reading this, whatever it was that created us or if some gene in the human species made it so that all forms of human communication came to a dead halt... instantly. I'm talking down to the core. Not like what if the electricity goes out. I am saying your brain suddenly becoming incapable of executing the action of expressing itself to everything around it. What would happen? I think that human race would die off in the period of a couple of years but thats just me. Communication is the foundation of the human race. It is essential. It is what has gotten us to where we are. It is our means of life.
Language, to me is the most basic and common form of human expression. And in age where unique skill seems to be the driving factor in achieving success, it is easy to overlook the fact that this common trait inherent in all of mankind (and/or womankind) is what has driven the human civilization as whole to where it is today. Progression depends on langauge in order to get to that next level. Skill needs language in order to get noticed. Not everyone can get a sense of understanding by looking at a painting, just the same as not everyone can get moved my a musical compostition. But almost everyone on this planet can understand speech in every way shape or form it comes in. Some things are harder to explain than others, but if people put in the effort and try to understand the language, some sense of understanding will come be it an understanding of what is being talked about, or an understanding that you do not understand what is being talked about. Its all enlightenment.
My little hole in the internet will revolve around language and its power on the human race. It is a prevalent force in our everyday life whether you want to acknowldge it or not. I am going to further my understanding of language by looking into how others communicate thier thoughts to everyone else while picking up on techiniques and styles and admiring what language ultimately does and that is bring people together, even though there is some language out ther that brings them apart(or does it?) we'll find out.....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wouldn’t our brain loosing the ability to express itself mean we would be come immobile? If this is what you are stating then the human race would surely die off in a matter of weeks. We wouldn’t be able to take the actions we do when we are hungry or walk to the bathroom. Loosing the ability to express ourselves to everything around us means we would be unable to relate the message to the microwave that we want it to cook our food (we wouldn’t be able to press the buttons).
ReplyDeleteNow, if you are writing about loosing out ability to communicate to other people but can still carry out our basic functions ourselves, that’s a whole other ball of wax. The human race would become very primitive. We couldn’t communicate to the clerks at the store that we wanted to buy our food. We would simply walk in and take it. When it all ran out we would all become hunters, probably harming each other for food.
This is a point where I disagree with you. It would take more than a couple years for the human race to die off. I believe we (or those of us who were not murdered) could survive for many years as solitary creatures. What would kill us would be the lack of procreation. If any procreation was able to take place without communication I imagine it would only be from the form of rape since sex is more of an instinct that anything else. However, the babies would not survive. They cannot fend for themselves and wouldn’t be able to cry when they were hungry.
I am a little confused on what you mean by language. Are you talking written and verbal, or do you include body language? If your point is stating that written and verbal language are the “most basic” form of communication, I have to disagree. While they are the most common, as you pointed out, verbal and written language is extremely complex in comparison to body language. It is quite difficult to mistake what someone is telling you with their body; whereas, it is quite easy to mistake what someone is attempting to communicate in writing. It takes considerably more effort to explain the tone or presence and literal or figurative stance verbally or in writing than it does with a facial expression or body movement.
Please do not mistake what I am writing now. I agree whole-heartedly in the importance of verbal and written language that you express. As a Secondary English Education major I plan to teach my future students why learning how to write is so important. In order for the world to function we need to be able to communicate. This type of communication takes social consciousness from everyone. We all have to understand the same rules. Of course, they will be bent in order to get some ideas across, but without this language we would be unable to understand each other. Without knowing these communication guidelines and using them it would be difficult for someone to make others understand them, understand who they are even. Here is an example of what could happen if the communication guidelines of the American English language were not used.
Read this sentence:
A woman without her man is nothing.
Now, if you are a woman you probably became irate after reading this. If the proper guidelines are not followed it is almost impossible for the receiver of the message to understand it correctly.
Here is the sentence again, with the proper punctuation used to get the writer’s point across.
A woman, without her, man is nothing.
Completely different meaning.
It can take considerable effort to make others understand what you are trying to say, but using this complex language that you so adore makes things significantly easier.
That was one of the most inquistitive things i have ever read. i hope to one day attain the ability to communicate as efficiently as you have just done. you took it even deeper and i dig that.
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm glad I had that effect on you. You made me feel good about my communication. Sometimes I get scared about it because I am going to teach high school English.
ReplyDelete