 many
times why people should learn how language works. My answer is always the
same: Because they'll never be free until they do.
Now what do I mean by free? Well, being free means to me being clear
of outside domination.
You know, there was a time when people were kept in line by the threat
of physical violence. But that time has long past. At least in this country.
Today, the only way you can keep people in line is through language, something
that was recognized by Allen Ginsberg more than thirty years ago when he
observed that whoever controls the language, the images, controls the race.
You see, every time you let someone con you through words, you give
up a portion of your freedom by giving him control over some part of your
life.
And tell me, how many political activists, members of the so-called
news media, advertisers, advisors and consultants, politicians, critics
of all manner, what are called experts and authorities, college professors,
and on and on and on do you think have no interest whatever in controlling
your thinking?
Precious few, I would say. Because they know that if they can control
your thinking, they'll control your actions.
The worst part of it is that the vehicle involved is fear. As Thomas
Troward put it:
Once you admit that there is any power outside yourself, however beneficent
you may conceive it to be [and, parenthetically, that's what you're doing
when you let people control your thinking] you have sown the seed which
must sooner or later bear the fruit of “fear,” which is the entire ruin
of life, love and liberty.
Now that's precisely what happens to you when you don't know how language
works. You give fear a foothold within you from which to operate. From
which to spread unchecked as cancerous cells spread unchecked.
That's freedom? Not in my book.
Think about it. |
