Hype

About half a century ago or more, I was sitting around with some undergrad mates, drinking beer and solving the world's problems, when somebody suggested that the root of all our ills was language. Our very language "had the syph," as he put it; it was so diseased, corrupted by advertising and hype, that nothing meant anything any more. Language was no longer a tool with which to express truth. The language had the syph.

If he was right then, it's only gotten worse. And now, with the shackles removed from corporations with regard to influencing the political landscape, well, it can only get worse still. Hype is the norm and has been for some time. Not only in language but in behavior, commonplace action exaggerated in its meaning, mediocre art praised to the skies, and so forth and so on. As a culture, we've probably never been more stupid -- certainly our kids do worse than ever on international tests in science and math -- and yet we're told that we've never been more smart. We get Palin. And thousands love her ideas and think she is "wise."

The language has the syph. I wish I could remember the name of the guy who said that.