Everyone has an opinion

...but not everyone can offer valid proof and evidence to support their opinions. Or the proof they do offer is of dubious origin, lies or urban legends among other things. And normally this is not a problem as everyone should have the right to openly express their opinions in my opinion. Heck, I know I have ideas and opinions that many other people cannot necessarily understand or agree with but the joy of being able to express them is rare in many parts of the world and should be appreciated by those who have that ability.

In some ways, that is why I have this blog. It offers me an opportunity to express ideas and opinions to a wide range of people who then have the option to read and either agree, disagree or even argue with me over them. However, to paraphrase one of my favorite quotes regarding the internet - well, I saw it on the internet so it *must* be true! That statement is very apropos when discussing blogs in particular as it is usually rather difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to what you read online. In my own case, I tend to read various news sources to get my news - regional, national and international as well as from varying political angles. The great majority of those news sites are reputable (if not always deliberately propagandistic as in the case of certain sources from countries with less than free media) and there is a clear distinction between news and editorial commentary. And I do read the editorial commentary but at least I have the knowledge to distinguish facts from opinions.

I read very little in the way of blogs when it comes to facts. There are a few I read and most of those have very deliberate political opinions but I read them for what they are - opinions with occasional facts thrown in. I have one favorite that I have mentioned here before - Seeing Red in China - by an American living in China who does the best of any I have yet come across at explaining life in everyday China, without undue praise or criticism, to people who may otherwise never get to experience it. But it is still a blog with the opinions of a single individual and his experiences.

I was recently treated to the antithesis of that blog by another China-related blogger posting ideas that minimized responsibility for Mao for things that happened during his time in power. Against my better judgment, I responded asking for more info to support the writer's hypothesis and instead received the sort of conspiracy theory spouting that is, in my experience, far more common to blog writers who can write whatever they want without any sort of vetting prior to publication as would take place at more reputable news media or research outlets. In the end, I stopped responding as it was simply generating troll-like responses from others on the blog and, quite frankly, I have much less patience for that than I have when I was younger. While I was frustrated by the negative power of such ideas, not to mention the power of the internet to spread such bad ideas with no proof to support them, it did serve to remind me that I am still fairly lucky to not be inundated with such tripe and that hopefully the good will still outweigh the bad when it comes to the power of ideas and the internet.

Communication

What are words for? For whatever reason, I was thinking about that today. Not the video, per se, but the idea behind that phrase. Words are simply a form of communication between people. But words are very interesting in the larger context of communication. Words are can be very expressive and beautiful, they can be limiting and even insufficient at time, and they can be more brutal than physical force. All living animals have the ability to communicate but it seems that humans are the only ones with the ability to articulate in a verbal form.

A caveat here - we know, for example, that dolphins and whales can communicate with each other through what we (as humans) interpret as song. Does that mean that they cannot articulate? Perhaps not in a manner that we can easily understand. But that means that articulation takes on a very narrow definition that is likely incorrect in the larger picture.

Poetry and literature are examples of the beauty and the power of words. Poetry has the ability express emotion in ways that are seemingly limitless. Putting words and phrases together that can convey a meaning whose interpretation depends upon the reader is an awesome ability. Literature possesses the ability put the reader into a new environment or to share knowledge of people, places or events that would otherwise be completely alien to the reader. Literature allows us to create new perspectives through which to view the world - all of which is possible through the power of those words.

In the Christian Bible, it is said that God destroyed the tower of Babel and allowed the creation of a multitude of languages. But the existence of different languages creates difficulties in the usage and understanding of words. It allows for confusion when speakers of different languages attempt to communicate and such miscommunication has been known to start fights and even wars. Words used in one context can easily be misinterpreted in another context. And all of this is provided that the people involved in the conversation both speak the same language - even if not natively. Furthermore, native speakers of the same language can fail to communicate effectively. Any conversation between parents and their children is proof of a failure to communicate in the same language.

Words can also cause more damage to people than physical actions. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." This children's mantra is intended to ward off hurtful things that other children may say. But taking away the pain caused by hurtful words to children is a difficult thing for any parent. An even more worse example is the demonization of people that are different in any fashion. Jews in Germany, the Tutsis in Rwanda and even Blacks in America and Western European nations have been victims of the language of demonization. It is always easier to treat others poorly when they are called names that dehumanize them. When their individuality and personality is stripped away and they can be grouped by whatever separates them from others (whether it be language, religion, color or any other grouping option), the ability to cause great harm and pain is made much easier.

So, do we still beg the question of what are words for?