There was a very heated discussion yesterday going on in the blogosphere. One that took place on a variety of sites, no doubt. The problem stemmed from a post at RadicalMama on teen pregnancy (one teen pregnancy in particular). The debate is not one that I would like to tackle here, or ever if possible. I find that arguing with somebody about a topic that loaded with emotion is not exactly a fruitful endeavor.
The issue at hand here is nomenclature, or simply put, words. Words were created centuries ago to convey a meaning, a thought, an emotion. The problem is that words have changed meaning over the past several hundred years, and so have people. Certain feelings, thoughts, and emotions can not be expressed by a single word, or even a whole page of them. Loaded topics are never going to be solved by two people who feel differently than one other using words that don’t really convey the point they are trying to make.
I am not going to use the topic discussed yesterday as my example, for that might destroy my blog and all that it stands for (mostly, for not being a blog!). Instead I will use a topic near and dear to me-one that I have studied intensely personally and professionally. The topic of timber harvesting.
People love to hate timber harvesting (and I use the term “harvest” literally-trees are an agricultural commodity like corn). Most have a knee-jerk reaction to the thought of trees being cut down because they envision a giant redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum) being felled whilst an endangered owl goes splat! I can use a term like clear-cut in an everyday sentence and not flinch for I know the importance of the act. But, like abortion, clear-cut is a loaded term, filled with emotion (and, no, I am not comparing the two philosophically so don’t bother yelling at me). Both terms have a scientific basis and both refer to a specific act being done. That doesn’t stop people from attaching an emotion to a term based on sound scientific research and practice.
So, I guess the point I am trying to make, and have been trying to make for several years now is that we can never truly evolve as a species if we are to continue to place so much importance on things as trivial as words. Words are only tools that we use to communicate a feeling or a need or an emotion. If we didn’t continue to evolve other tool technology, we would still be using a rock tied to a stick as a hammer. Evolution is unavoidable and necessary. Why do we fight it when it comes down to the most important topic? If we can’t communicate effectively, we are doomed to repeat our past. It seems that we are already doing that on some level (look at the so-called “war” in Iraq). That situation, as much as any other, is loaded with emotion that can not be expressed by outdated words. It is time we stop attaching so much importance on something that can’t even do what it is meant to do. The Chevrolet Corvair failed as an automobile because it didn’t do what it was supposed to do-which is function as a safe vehicle of transport. If our words are going to continue to fail, why do we continue to throw them at each other like some kind of obsolete weapon?
