Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language by Don Watson

Author:Don Watson [Watson, Don]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2011-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.’

‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

* * *

There may be a connection between believing in these business terms and the widespread sense of entitlement that Robert Hughes, among others, has observed in our society. Some medical scientists tell us that the two most significant changes in medicine in the past century were, first, scientific development; and second, the growing belief that no mistake, inadequacy and failure should be accepted as a normal part of life. Now many of our fellow citizens, especially those in the United States – oddly, for people who believe in a Great Disposer – believe that someone or some human process is to blame. Because without blame there cannot be closure, and there cannot be closure without litigation or litigation without closure. By radically reducing the element of chance in life, science is chiefly responsible for this development. But the language of modern marketing and management might be adding to the trend. With all the talk of outcomes and events and accountability and such, it could be that these days many citizens are prone to think that most events are managed, and those that aren’t should be: managed transparently in fact, into agreed outcomes. And if there is no such outcome, someone must be made accountable. There must be closure. It is very likely that the word creates the need. The most dramatic example so far appears to be the news that in some parts of the United States parents have started legal proceedings against their gynaecologists when, on reaching high school age, their children’s IQs do not meet expectations.

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