Dear Computer People
A Letter to Computer People on Communication
The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore. ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Dear Computer People,
Oh, the vulgarity of our language. Grab them by the pussy is going to end up in the Library of Congress, as it should. This is our tragic reality.
It is the modern view that human language is for communication.
I take a different stance.
My stream of consciousness uses language at least twice as much more than the hole in my face or my thumbs on a screen. All of our fellow social animals seem to be able to communicate without language, so it is evidently not an essential for communicating. The essential property of language is thought.
At this moment in society, most of us do the majority of our communicating with language written in organized lightning. Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Fellow dancing animals, we have a real problem. Our ability to communicate has taken a blow. I believe this spree of celebrity sex scandals are related to our lowered ability to communicate and the prevailing abuse of power.
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood!
There is a sort of Ying-Yang energy of the universe: positive and negative. North and south. Matter and antimatter. Love and hate. Body and mind. Life and death. Thought and feeling. Objective and subjective.
These energies have become dazed and confused. Language has become distorted with thoughtless feelings, desires, and the bottomless pit of satisfaction. A negative disguised as a positive. What is a strong national economy with weak global well-being? Don’t know which way is up or down. Nothing is real. Hate disguised as love. No more free will.
Once valued creative thought, curbed for enthusiasm.
Does anyone really believe Donald put any thought into his so called locker room talk? I would say this is a clear sign of his need to overcompensate ad nauseam. If you really watch and listen, anytime the man speaks, there is an overcompensation with thoughtless redundant language to communicate how famous and powerful he is.
Oscar Wilde said everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power. How could this not shake up any man or woman’s moral foundation? So is life after Darwin. What is the point of money, fame, assets and your name on buildings, if not for the psychological affirmation that your identity is secure and proven? You, in all your multitudes, are sexually competent enough in society. The constant need to prove you are desirable enough to get laid.
While sex and power may have semantic differences, I share Wilde’s belief that sex and power share ontology. Right now, the United States is experiencing a shake up. A sexual shake up and so, a power shake up.
Women are rightly standing up and correctly communicating that the current concept of a powerful male identity is no longer proven or secure, this is a good thing. It levels the playing field. Sexual activity requires consent. Power requires consent. These are American values. Our government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and legal when consented to by the people.
All this being said and acknowledged, I still worry. I worry that our ability to communicate is so poor; we will fall to the corporate sterilization of communication. If you ask any man or woman, if using language to ask for sexual consent is a good idea, I think they will say no. Louis C.K. asked for consent, it was still wrong. It is about the ability to communicate. We must understand and accept appropriate social constructs. We must understand and accept body language, attraction, and interest. The only time language should be involved in sexual consent is when the communication between the two people was so appalling that one person has to say NO or STOP.
In the words of the late David Bowie, Let's dance / For fear your grace should fall / Let's dance / For fear tonight is all / Let's sway / You could look into my eyes / Let's sway / Under the moonlight, this serious moonlight.
Contributor
Samuel Griffin
Samuel Griffin is a Chicago graduate student. He writes stories, poetry, and opinion articles. His poetry has been published by the Write Launch and the Chicago Poetry Press.