Words matter

As a Social Studies major, I spent my sophomore year puzzling through The Great Men of European Social Theory: Marx, Weber, Durkheim. I don't think I ever really understood any of them, but I always had a thing for Weber. He seemed to be the most comfortable with messiness and uncertainty. My advisor probably explained my preference more eloquently when he summarized the difference between Marx and Weber in four words: "For Weber, words matter."

Pretended or not, Republican disdain for words has not served them well. I don't think it's just a case of "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"; that is, faced with an opponent of uncommon eloquence, they decided to equate fine speaking with elitism. For me, the Bush administration's epitaph was written four years ago by the anonymous presidential aide who famously expressed his bosses' contempt for "what we call the reality-based community." As it turns out, words and reality actually do have something to do with one another.

First, thoughtful speech tells you something about the qualities of the thoughts expressed. Clear, careful, confident words communicate that the speaker has thought through the reasons for and consequences of his propositions. Enough said on that point.

Second, and more relevant to my preference for Weber, words matter because as often as not, we act on the basis of words alone. Marxists (and many marketers) may believe that people are largely driven by hidden, underlying forces, material or unconscious, and that the words we use to explain our actions are no more than self-delusion. But that's just wrong. Words matter because expectations shape our behavior in a very concrete, reality-based way. Or to put it more eloquently, words matter because hope matters.

Comments

[Emily]

Yes we can.