Thoughts I've thunk while sippin' at a cup of tea and reading something provoking, often get dropped here for the benefit of humanity and my own hubris.
Except where otherwise noted, all original content is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
See details.
I love words. That ability to communicate and convey emotions and thoughts in stories and poetry. It is wonderful, and I can understand how every culture talks about a god coming down from heaven to give the gift of writing to the human masses.
My ancestors looked at letters as something magical. Patterns and permutations of those letters invoked meaning. Of course, I don't look at those letters with quite the same sense of awe ... but that is because I'm literate... and mystery is usually associated with the unknown.
Chinese calligraphy, on the other hand, is very amazing to me. All that beauty and meaning in such compact symbols. I feel that way because I can't read Chinese. These symbols don't immediately infect me with meaning. (Of course, I may loose my sense of wonderment with Chinese characters if I ever find myself in downtown Hong Kong where those same symbols are displayed in the garish glow of neon.)
I don't have to think (translate or interpret) when I see some English words or letters. They are almost burned into my DNA. Granted, this efficency is good while driving, but is abused by advertisers to the point of being offensive.
Sometimes, I want to rest my brain from a long day of "words." While not as pleasant as trees, I can turn my brain's volume down as I look at buildings, schools, parks, etc. However, those buildings, schools and parks are covered with letters … which are words … which make my brain repeat the meaning. Even if I would never buy low-riding capri pants, or Coors, or eat at McDonalds, the damage is done. My brain has been affected and infected. This concept of catching a "virus" made up of letters is called a meme. And I just hate it.
While it is true that advertising on TV and the web is more annoying, but I can turn those things off. And when I leave my house and perambulate across the world, those "words" work against my enjoyment of the world. I hate words.
© 2002-2005, Howard Abrams • Except where otherwise noted, all original content is licensed under a Creative Commons License (see details).
Sometimes when I’m very tired, I can’t stand to walk down the street and see words everywhere, street signs, storefront signs. Even if I make a conscious effort to not look, it’s really close to impossible. But mostly I can just accept it (all the words everywhere), which is a good thing, otherwise things like walking and driving could get to be a chore. Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way tells people to go one week without any reading of any kind. Have you ever done that? I’ve always gotten the impression it’s mostly women who read her books, I’m curious if that’s true? I’ve never done the week without reading, but I might, sometime. I wonder what it would be like, if it would feel fundamentally different. Especially if you stayed in your regular life (i.e., didn’t do something like go backpacking, which would be cheating in a way, I think), and made an effort to eliminate reading 100%, even things like menus & street signs. Hmmm, maybe I’ll ponder that idea a while.
Comment posted on Tuesday, 16 March 2004
|
|
|
|
|
|