Born in 1944, I am old enough to have witnessed the vulgarization of language in America. Yes, I am just another one of those old guys lamenting the cultural nose dive, but hold on. There is more to it than you might think.

      The mind works in somewhat mysterious but definite ways. Our sense of sight gives us enormous amounts of reliable information about what we see, not just because we see it, but because we have experienced touching, interacting with and navigating around those things that we recognize by sight. Potentially all of our senses have contributed to the network of associations that forms judgments about what any specific sighting means. I look upon a soft couch with expectations that are far different from those prompted by the sight of a bed of nails.

      Now that you know what vision is for, let me introduce you to words.

      If we were all blind, we would report things using words referring directly to touch and sound and taste and smell and the memory of those travels and manipulations that happened in our experience without vision. Of course. However, the vast majority of people are not blind and the words they use reflect that fact. We see. We dream visually. Much of what we say refers to sightings or potential sightings. This is entirely natural.

      Here comes the problem: Our visual processing is older in our evolution that is our verbal processing. In some ways this processing is very much smarter than our verbal processing. Some people (many of them not really knowing what they're doing) combine the actions of verbal and visual processing to enhance their attention, appreciation, and memory of what is being said. In fact, in many people the riveted attention that produces a life-long memory is very likely the result of this team work between the mind's eye and the mind's ear. It's only fair that visual words should evoke some visual processing along with the necessary verbal processing.

      Ah ha! Enter all those scatological, violent, gynecological, sexual and proctological phrases. Are they not cool? No. Here is where the fan sprays excrement all over the room - on your belongings, on your clothing, in your hair, on your skin and in your eyes: You are no longer a sponge for knowledge and information. You are a dense, reluctant, inattentive listener. You often wake up after a message is well under way, saying to yourself "Wait minute, this is important." But then you often miss it.

      Visual words are being screened. You are one big bureaucratic maze of permissions and cautions. The visual words that would let you remember infallibly can't be trusted because - heaven forbid - you might actually remember this drivel for the rest of your life!

      Now that Senators and news journalists are spouting the new vernacular between reports of purchase offers that you have not initiated and you have sensibly defended yourself, more than half of all you will hear has provisionally become background noise. We are keenly tuned to a station that isn't there.


Contact

      Please feel free to write to me directly for more information or to make suggestions or comments. My email address is jim@futurebeacon.com. You can also go to my contact page to get my full contact information. Suggestions, questions, additional information and critiques are very welcome.