George Carlin is a stand-up comedian who has spoken out and questioned actions of the government since the 1970s. During one of his shows in 1999, Carlin questions and speaks out against language that "the system has actually convinced people to use." George Carlin states that the government census attempts and succeeds in changing words and phrases around in order to please Americans psychologically. I agree with about 75% of his opinions, but I don't think it's the government alone that makes these changes. The video below is a snippit of his stand-up on "soft language."
Warning: Adult Context
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4 comments:
I agree that some of these changes in our language is perpetuated by the government. However, the self-esteem movement that started in the sixties plays a big role too. For example, kids in school nowadays have to be told that they are doing well. No criticism is acceptable anymore - so much for learning and growing through constructive criticism.
Oh yea, George Carlin talks about the education system as well. He mentions how the grading system keeps getting lower and lower to make schools look good. It's very interesting.
Ok, I don't think the government has a whole lot to do with the language we use. I think it's the people in advertising coming up with ways to make their product sound better. Also, I think it has to do an idea psychologists have come up with that if you call people certain thing, like cripple, whether it was previously acceptable or not, it will damage their self-esteem. Americans have bought into this kind of thinking and I think in some cases this is bad, but for the most part how does changing what we call something affect us.
He does have some good points and he is even funny, you should teach me how to post this way.
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