2008.09.21
The power of language
A while back, I had a discussion with my family around the following question: If you could master any one skill or ability in order to make the largest possible impact on the world, what would it be?
We discussed politics and diplomacy as an avenue to making a lasting impact. We talked about the importance of scientific research. We pondered the role of the artist. We considered the power held by journalism through large news/media organizations. But in the end, for me, it boiled down to the ability to write and / or speak with absolute command of the language.
When I consider all of the various things that inform my world view, everything else pales in comparison to the written word. From where I’m sitting right now, I can glance over shelves of books, both fiction and non-fiction, which form a part of who I am and how I view the world.
Writing and the use of language exerts power in many other realms, including politics and journalism, but when I think of writing, I think more of the authors who managed to change the world through fiction. Authors like Arthur Miller. And like Bruce Sterling. Sterling’s recent AGDC Keynote speech is a perfect example of how command of the language is.
Several comments on his speech deride Sterling for not being part of the gaming industry; while this is true, he had some very important things to say, and he managed to do so in a powerful fashion through the use of metaphor.
Another reason for picking command of language as my #1 world-changing ability is the permanence and prevalence of the written word. Text is a very compact form for conveying information (much more so than a medium like video or audio), and text never dies. The words I’m writing now will likely never vanish thanks to the wonders of the web, and so long as people can understand written English circa 2008, their meaning will never be lost. And they can be searched, sliced, and diced much more easily than images can.
Words also have a peculiar power in a cultural context. Nearly all of modern society is informed by myths and stories. In the past, before humanity developed written language, traditions and stories were passed orally, and today, we also employ the written word. Language is at the very core of what it means to be human, and words still shape and change our culture today.
Ironically, this brief essay is perhaps the antithesis of what it describes. I do not pretend to possess the level of lingusitic command I aspire to. But I can learn and practice and improve over time. Maybe I’ll even get there someday.
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