Food for thought

In his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language George Orwell laments the quality of the English language of his day, citing examples of dying metaphors and meaning-less words that have seeped into the English language. He attributes this to the lack of logical thinking and the growing indistinctness of ideas. He further writes that if thought corrupts language, then language can also corrupt thought. Not far from Orwell’s speculations, language today, as an instrument for expressing thought, has changed. Not so long ago, the art of composition and communication were an important skill in public and private life of our nation. Twentieth century Syria witnessed the rise of remarkable public speakers, authors, poets, and journalists. Their ability to wield words effectively became one of the chief tools of politicians and often made the greatest difference in their positions. Contemporary poet and diplomat Nizar Qabbani’s mastery of words and his echoes on love, feminism and the natural beauty of Damascus and its alleys, saw the start of his writing career at the young age of sixteen, albeit in a conservative society. Ali Ahmad Saeid, famous as Adonis, is considered among the prominent modern Syrian poets. Farid Al-Atrash compositions and songs flourished in Syria; his lyrics resonated in every household at a time when life in Syria in the nineteen fifties, sixties and seventies was difficult- economically, socially and politically. Their words and song lyrics offered hope for the Syrian future and have since become a representation of who Syrians were. Regrettably, communication and language as was known to Qabbani, Adonis, and Al-Atrash is now regarded as a historical notion, and a pretentious and hollow rhetoric has replaced it. Whereas our literary forefathers perceived language as a performance of literature, an interplay between thought and word, it has now been reduced to a mere construction of words, reflecting the modern generational lack of deep thought and reflection today. Whereas our prominent politicians, writers, scholars, journalists and composers characterized our country’s past decades, it is now a rarity to come across such stimulating and well-expressed communicators as our predecessors. Along the years, their oratories inspired the Syrian people at times of political and economic instability; their powerful words harmonized the nation or resulted in its upheaval. They are our ancestors, who realized the importance of precision in speech, diplomacy in address, and intellect in thought, skills that are, sorrowfully, lost on their descendants. The jargon peculiar to today’s generation consists largely of words and phrases that have spread by imitation and have become very convenient to use, even among today’s educators, authors, journalists, and public speakers. Our language has settled into a familiar pattern and invaded our susceptible minds by ready-made phrases that lay the foundation for an impassive and incoherent generation. Newspaper, radio, television, billboard, bumper sticker, T-shirt, mail, magazine, and online communication has made modern day jargon the prevailing communication tool. The decline of our language is not only a result of today’s communication tools, but a result of economical and social causes also. Significantly, it is important to recognize that the change in our language use and thought have ramifications on our lifestyles, as well as our economical and social conditions. The decline of our language is certainly not due to a certain writer, musician, or speaker, but is the responsibility of our civil society and state, to conserve and uphold the whole-some language of our former literary and scholarly figures. The limits of education, media, music and art today provide little exercise, if any, for our minds. Vocabulary introduced in song lyrics and television shows, have removed all shades of meaning, further reducing the need for deep thinking about our language. We live in the age of Internet technology, and despite some of its achievements, modern media will continue to annihilate the power and influence of scholars, teachers, and educational institutions. Thinker and writer Ludwig Wittgenstein expressed it best in his book Tractatus Logico Philosophicus when he wrote: ‘the limits of my language indicate the limits of my world.’ Today’s local television shows, aimed at the young audience, fail to communicate material, wit, constructive language, and stimulant information. Our youth are nourished on language stemming from aimless television programs such as popular soap operas, international music videos and many situation comedy shows, domestic and global that has infiltrated and shaped our language. Consequently, our exposure to the mundane and profane can only result in an intellectually dampened generation. What is more problematic is that most youngsters I have conversed with would not admit that language is in a bad way but it is generally assumed that we can not consciously do anything about it. The argument goes that our world is decadent, our manners and social relations detached, and therefore our thoughts, and inevitably language, must collapse. For the last few decades, our culture and education have been in a declining state. In a country of eighteen million people, our cultural reserves are dwindling and we are left with few significant intellectuals to speak of. Our language has become inaccurate be-cause our thoughts are common. In return, our language makes it easier for us to have uninteresting thoughts. However, as George Orwell expressed, as far as the general spirit of the language goes, it is curable. He is heartened by the fact that meaningless words and expressions have of-ten disappeared, not through any evolutionary process but due to the conscious action of a minority.