Day 4: Words Matter Chapter 2 - Different Definitions
This may seem a bit like a rehash of yesterday's piece on vernaculars, but it's important enough that I felt the need to spend a full day's post focusing on it, so here we go.
Tip 2: Be Accurate, Be Precise, Be Aware Of Other Definitions.
Why is that all one tip? Because it's all one concept. A lot of the discussions about important events and concepts today fail in a very, very important way: they don't treat their words as important as the concept requires. When you're talking about what to get for dinner, there's no reason to freak out about being precise. It's not going to really affect the discussion if you call both Taco Bell and a local, family owned restaurant that specializes in Latin-American cuisine "Mexican Food." It's simply just not that important.
Now, when we're talking about the rights and liberties of millions of people, about making cultural changes to make the world a better place, or about just about any other socioeconomic issue that requires either a governmental or mass response to fix, the importance goes up. In those conversations, even though we often have them among people that can't really change anything, accuracy and precision are much more important to avoid miscommunication and misunderstandings.
Let's cover one such misused and abuse word in recent years: "socialism." I'm going to try to keep from pouring into what "socialism" actually is, because that's a long discussion that doesn't have much to do with word choice, but I will focus on what it's not, and why it's use in Western politics has caused such a problem for a lot of people. To be brief: socialism is an economic system, not necessarily political or governmental, in which the "people" own what are called the "productive assets." That's it. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Medicare, social security, food stamps or anything else like that.
People think it does though. Why? Because politicians and their allies largely misused the word throughout the cold war and beyond. They took a look at every social program, and called it socialist. Even today, both parties use the term socialism to describe things like tax cuts to corporations, government funded healthcare, and even government apologies for past actions. The thing is, for the most part, those are social programs, but they're not socialism. They're not changing how our economy functions on a basic level, they're changing some details about how we're running it.
Why does this matter? Because "socialism," like so many other words that are affected by today's tip, is used not to convey information, but to cause an emotional response. We used to call these kind of things "buzzwords" or "loaded" because they really muddy the water of a reasonable discussion. If you want to learn more about the world around you, or help others learn it, don't appeal to emotion. Emotions can be wonderful things, and they can even give us some information about ourselves, but they're not useful when it comes to learning or making decisions. I know that sounds harsh, and if you don't believe me go ask a scientist or philosopher that you trust, and feel free to come back here later.
The key to avoiding those pitfalls of emotion is to seek out accuracy and precision in terms. Part of that comes from using more accurate terms, like instead of using "socialism" as a blanket term, focus in on what you're discussing. Is it a single-payer healthcare system funded by the government? Maybe use "universal healthcare." That kind of thing. Accurate terms tend to be more professional or academic in nature, and tend to be longer, but they're worth having at your disposal, because if you know someone will immediately shut down at the thought of "socialism," which is kind of what the word has been used to do for a while now, then focus on the details, and maybe they'll be more willing to discuss why they honestly think there's a problem with it.
When seeking to be precise in a conversation, the most important thing to do is confirm that you're working with the same definitions for key terms. If someone tells you that they hate "Obama-care," for instance, ask them to elaborate on it. What they may hate is the idea that the mandate that came with it hurt so many people who had to choose between useless but still expensive healthcare plans or paying a fee at the end of the year. Or it could be that they hate the fact that the government is deciding what people can or can't do with their money.
Getting those key terms down pat will help you both communicate and understand better, and instead of a discussion being an argument where one person has to win, it can become a debate where, by responding to each others concerns and counter points, both of you end up closer to the truth than you started. But if you're using a word to mean something while they think you mean something completely different, you're going to end up having a hard time communicating at all. It's worth the extra time and effort to confirm the definitions. If nothing else, it may show the person you're talking with that you legitimately care enough to want to understand where they're coming from, rather than just being there to pick a fight.
Finally, be aware of common terms that have different definitions. Loaded terms and buzzwords are a big one, because they'll often be used to mean different things by different subcultural media, whether that be a news organization, a social media site, or even just a regional difference based on where someone grew up. Over time, learn to identify the words you use that you have a definition for that doesn't necessarily match the common usage. If you've been following along so far, you've seen me define a bunch of terms because I've found that how I use them can be confusing without doing so; that's a practice you can use to avoid miscommunication.
Alright, I think that's enough for one day. Let's quickly sum up and head out. Today's tip is to use precise terms to avoid miscommunication, open up the conversation by asking how someone is using a term that may not be in line with what you expect, and be aware of the times you do the same. Reducing miscommunication is just a generally good thing to do, so hopefully this all helped.
Have a great day everyone, and if you're keeping up with all of this nonsense, I'll "see" you in tomorrow's post. Goodbye!
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