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Don't Mention It

There are a lot of people rallying for a lot of causes. Most of these causes involve denouncing the objects of other, competing causes. Republicans diss the Democrats. Critics complain about a bad movie. Evolutionists rag on the Bible. To publicly support one side evidently implies you must publicly condemn the other. By presenting positive evidence for my side while presenting negative evidence for the other, I will convince everyone that my side is the correct one. That is what people think. This may work in the laboratory, but it doesn't work in society.

Ancient peoples seemed to understand at least one thing better than modern society. To give something a name is to grant it power. To recognize something's existence is to give it weight in your mind. A rose without a name is nothing. A cognitive symbol can not be reconstructed without words.

"There is no such thing as bad publicity," the entertainment industry says. When you talk about something you hate, you are inadvertenly making it more known. If you hate something you hear on the radio, you'd be better suited just turning it off instead of asking, "Who is this? That way I know never to listen to them again." Their name will then be in your head. You will probably mention your dislike of them to a future person. That person will think, "Hmm. I don't know who they are, but since I'm an open-minded person who must learn everything the hard way, I'm going to listen to them myself and make my own decision whether they're a good band or not!" Whether they enjoy it or not doesn't matter--as long as they keep replicating that meme. And they will.

So if you hate something, shut up about it.

(Actually, someone has gotten this right. Wes Craven. I wouldn't want to spoil such quality pictures, though.)

posted by Phlegm at 9/17/2003