The Magic of Words

As a wordsmith and someone with a deep understanding of the magic and power of words, I want to talk about something that doesn’t get enough attention in our daily lives, and that is how the media uses buzzwords to shape public opinion.  The pen is mightier than the sword, and I’m going to explain how you can become more vigilant in a time when words are constantly being used as weapons against you.  The invisible war is the war for your mind.  Certain words and phrases hold more weight than others, because they evoke emotion.  These are called “loaded words,” and every poet, politician, attorney, ad agency, media mogul, lyricist— everyone who successfully deals in words employs loaded language. 

When you read or hear a statement heavy with weighty words, you’re more likely to resonate with it and less likely to question its validity, solely based on the emotional trigger that gets pulled in your mind.  It’s basic psychology.  Be on the lookout for heavy, emotive words and phrases, and particularly those that are used over and over.  They’re no more than buzzwords designed to propagate an agenda.  They most often evoke fear or disdain, because these emotions are the quickest and most direct route to your psyche, but often they might pull at your heartstrings as well.  Phrases like, “zero tolerance,” “anti-science,” “fake news,” and most recently, “the new normal,” are designed to stick with you for better or worse. To shape your opinion— against your will.  Ask yourself, how many times have you heard “In these uncertain times…” over the past year?  What about “…In this together?”  

Even stronger are the words they use to describe us:  “White Nationalist,” “Liberal Snowflake,” “Anti-Vaxxer,” “Social Justice Warrior,” “Conspiracy Theorist,” “Anti-Masker,” and the list goes on.  We hear these titles over and over, yet the vast majority of us are dynamic, complicated beings who lean this way or that on a number of issues for personally valid reasons.  Emotive generalizations are meant to shame you into silence while simultaneously pushing you to extremes.  We all know that even an innocuous substance like water is healthy in the form of a cup in your hand and deadly as an ocean over your head. Extremism is not the norm, yet we are pushed to extremes on the daily.  Why is that?  “Divide and conquer” is the oldest game in the book because it works.  To think and speak for ourselves, to engage in healthy debate, and to celebrate our differences are increasingly becoming the greatest acts of civil disobedience.

But it goes further— Words, as sounds, are vibrations.  Ever wonder why yogis in the West chant their mantras in Sanskrit?  What is the point of learning these meditations in a foreign language?  The word sanskrit means “well or completely formed; purified, hallowed; refined, polished.”  It is believed that the delivery of the words themselves gives them much of their power.  Sanskrit is one of the oldest and most pristine languages in the world, and every sound and syllable is made with five precise positions of the mouth. Great care is taken to learn the exact enunciation, because mispronouncing can mean a powerless mantra. It is about sensing vibration as much as it is about literal meaning.  So there you have it.  The sound of words, not just the meaning, is also important.  Laurel Airica’s video provides a darkly cheeky example of this deeper magic of words.