Saturday, February 18, 2012

Language - Purity of Thought; Purity of Word: II



In his classic book, On Writing Well, William Zinsser writes:

“…Americans are unwilling to go out on a limb. A generation ago our leaders told us where they stood and what they believed. Today they perform strenuous verbal feats to escape that fate. Watch them wiggle through TV interviews without committing themselves. I remember President Ford assuring a group of visiting businessmen that his fiscal policies would work. He said: “We see nothing but increasingly brighter clouds every month.” I took this to mean that the clouds were still fairly dark. Ford’s sentence was just vague enough to say nothing and still sedate his constituents.

“Later administrations brought no relief. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, assessing a Polish crisis in 1984, said: “There’s continuing ground for serious concern and the situation remains serious. The longer it remains serious, the more ground there is for serious concern.” President Bush, questioned about his stand on assault rifles in 1989, said: “There are various groups that think you can ban certain kinds of guns. I am not in that mode. I am in the mode of being deeply concerned.” ”

Zinsser’s all-time favorite was this quote from Elliot Richardson: “And yet, on balance, affirmative action has, I think, been a qualified success.” Zinsser considers the following Richardson statement a close second: “And so, at last, I come to the one firm conviction that I mentioned at the beginning: it is that the subject is too new for final judgments.”

I wonder what Zinsser would say about today’s culture, not only our political culture, but our entire culture?

Zinsser uses the above quotations to illustrate the passive voice, a voice guaranteed to put readers to sleep and to conceal the author’s or speaker’s true thinking. While the passive voice may once have concealed a person’s true thinking, that’s not the general case anymore; the passive voice in our society demonstrates that we communicate passively because we think passively. We are a passive people afraid of critical thinking. Precise thinking means taking a stand, going out on a limb, exposure, and risk. Better to play it safe, to be satiated by entertainment, media, and materialism

Many who still use the active voice in writing and speaking use it simplistically and reactionarily; the obvious examples are talk shows hosts of all stripes – political and religious. The thinking displayed in these arenas is typically a mile wide and an inch deep – after all, it is geared to appeal to the masses.   

I find myself writing in the passive voice even when I know what I think, I find myself hedging my bets, giving myself exits, using the subjunctive mood – and when editing my memos and emails I’m amazed at how often I use the “delete” button, killing off passive and conditional constructions.

When we live, think, and communicate passively we profane the gift of language; language which is part of the mystery of the image of God. When we use language as subterfuge, when we twist language, when we hide behind language; then we are liars and deceivers – proponents of the magic of smoke and mirrors. The witchdoctor has shed his outward garb and accouterments in transformation into the spin doctor – making disciples of us all.

As Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man (and Toto!) cross the field to the Emerald City they come under a sleeping spell; we are under the spell of passivity and we are asleep – will we wake up? 

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