forbidden thoughts, forbidden words

In America today there are many words one cannot say. We all know of the N-word, the F-word, and other horrible words. These words are considered so vile and evil that we are told not to pronounce them as if doing so would invoke evil spirits or bring bad luck. Children are considered especially vulnerable to such sinister spooks.

Radio and TV broadcasts use beeps to save our ears from hearing these utterances. Ironically enough the very same words are extremely common in movies and paid-for TV shows. It appears that the more strongly society enforces a ban against these words, the more prevalent they become in "protected" media. It did not take long for the consumer society to figure out that people will pay for access to forbidden fruit, even if such fruit turns out to be a bit overripe.

Evil words are the main reason live shows are not really live. They are delayed by a few seconds so the censors can detect and remove the not-to-be-spoken. It is fairly easy to see that such actions have religious overtones. Some religions forbid their followers from pronouncing or writing the word god. So they end up with the g-d word. Young aspiring magicians are cautioned about he-who-cannot-be-named. And we all heard stories about words or spells that can kill. Many fairy tales feature spells cast upon newborn children that can only be broken by true love.

Apart from mere words, there are also things we cannot say because doing so would be not politically correct or not PC for short. While that includes some "magic" words, such as the infamous N-word, it is actually a bit broader than that. In this case, we are warned not to express feelings we may have. For example, we may think that younger people are better than older individuals, or that men are stronger than women, or that whites are smarter than blacks, but we better refrain from saying so. Expressing these thoughts is not acceptable and doing so will get you in trouble. 

People have learned not to talk about these feelings in any setting apart from small gatherings of like-minded individuals. Even then, strangers like Borat or the unnoticed cell phone camera can lead to unexpected consequences. Savvy adults know better than to say anything that could be construed as ageist, sexist, or racist.

These ideas have effectively been outlawed. Not even paid-for media will touch these issues with a ten foot pole. So you may think we have successfully eradicated them. Think again.

Language is a matter of convention. We can always find a way to express our feelings to like-minded individuals. In some cases, you can express something by denying it. In others, you can use an effective code word. And that brings me to the latest code-word of the 2008 political campaign. That code word, my friends, is muslim.

It is not appropriate to say that Obama is different because he is black, especially when black means inferior, not like us, not to be trusted. You would not want to say you won't vote for Obama because you know he is black. Doing so can land you in hot water. But you can easily say you won't vote for Obama because you believe he is a muslim. Even if you know full well Obama is not a muslim, there is no penalty for thinking he really is a muslim.  Or for saying you don't trust him because you think he is "in his heart" a muslim.

Muslim in this context means not like us, not to be trusted. It has connotations of terrorism, of trying to undermine our society, of being un-American, of cruel laws and habits that discriminate against women. It has in effect all the connotations of "black" and then some. Yet it is safe to say. And if worse comes to worse you can always argue that you made an honest mistake. You just thought he was muslim. His name sounded muslim.

It is so safe to use code words that the free media does it all the time. Especially when it comes to political adversaries. It is easy to do too. You can even do so while denying the message. You can say, some spread the rumor that he was a muslim. It matters very little how you say it as long as you connect both words together in some sentence. 

It is the true irony of words. While humans are very sophisticated users of language, they are also very prone to fall victim to simple linguistic tricks. It is often enough to connect two words in a single sentence to plant an idea in people's minds. At the end of the day, the viewers will remember Obama and muslim, but forget anything in between. 

And that is the real danger of suppressing free expression. It often has severe unwanted side-effects. It promotes the use of acceptable words, words that can easily bypass our vigilance and catch us off-guard.

We may forget the words, but the ideas linger. In some cases it would surely be better to say things as they are. Then we would recognize the ideas and dismiss them as false or unworthy of our attention. They would not linger and fester and far less damage would be done.