Many people compare and contrast the Great Depression with our current economic troubles, to gain some perspective and perhaps find solutions from past experience. But the words used to describe our plight today almost sound like a different language.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt looked for solutions that would place “the security of the men, women and children of the nation first.” He said that all Americans “want decent homes to live in; they want to locate them where they can engage in productive work; and they want some safeguards against misfortune which cannot be wholly eliminated in this man-made world of ours.”
Today, both the president and members of Congress talk about “improving our fiscal situation,” “achieving financial sustainability,” and addressing “the growth of entitlement spending.”
As two leading academics put in a recent New York Times essay, “the desperate situation of many Americans (is) reduced to the clinical language of budgetary accounting.” They continue: “In 1934, the focus was on people, family security and the risks to family economic well-being that we all share. Today, the people have disappeared.”
The language of economics and individualism has replaced the language of our common circumstances and shared risks. That’s why what used to be considered social insurance is now noted as “entitlements,” viewed by some as a threat to our national well-being instead of as a safety net for family-income security.
In the highly emotional issue of illegal immigration, we also see dehumanizing language. Just look at the now-common term “illegals.” Not “illegal immigrants” or “undocumented immigrants” or “undocumented workers.” Actions are illegal, people aren’t. Again, no matter how you feel about the issue, the dehumanizing language is uncalled for.
As a writer of corporate reports and speeches, I see plenty of this dehumanizing language in the business world – and I try to steer my clients away from it. At a time when companies are cutting workforces, for example, phrases like “workforce imbalance correction,” “constructive discharge,” and “career alternative enhancement” don’t fool anyone and serve to inflame the cynicism that is already pervasive.
Even if the economic news is bad, let’s respect our fellow citizens and talk about policies with some humanity and simple language. Sure, we need to use technical terms and data to work through the very complex economic mess we’re in. But when decisions are based solely on numbers and calculations, we tend to leave flesh-and-blood people, families and shared social concerns out in the cold.
Amen to this, Don. Corporations have never been known for addressing people (despite Romney’s claim that they’re people themselves) but it’s dispiriting to hear our pols speak the same clinical language.
I have returned to the theme of dehumanization many a time over the past three decades. I believe that the power of the Pentagon Papers being printed was to see how the Pentagon itself could write endless about so much without any reference to the human, or with a single ethical question about the validity of any of it.
Last night I was thinking about how Capitalism is amoral and has no conscience until invested with humanity. Capitalism is an empty cage… our human experiences and souls have to be wedded to our business and political transactions. To extract the human is to destroy the very meaning of who we are.
Good stimulating essay today.
ed
As a fundraiser, this has been all too obvious to me for quite some time because we know we have to speak to the heart of any situation and not the numbers. I don’t think today’s politicians realilze they’re talking to real people (as opposed to just their own inflated selves).
Excellent thoughts Don. The language we use tells so much about a time and a society. I can’t agree more…we are in a time of dehumanizing. Here are two more examples that fit into your analysis: 1) “illegal alien” is a phrase that refers to people entering the U.S. illegally and describes them as “aliens” to our planet, and 2) we typically refer to people who are currently homeless as “the homeless”, dropping entirely the concept that they are people. The examples of how our current society (media, politicians, corporations, and regular people)dehumanizes marginalized people goes on and on. Any time we refer to a group of people and leave off the reference of “people” it dehumanizes the issue…”poor”, “disabled”, “blacks”, “Hispanic”. When our language dehumanizes an issue or group of people, it makes it easy to vilify, deny and dismiss. Our language is revealing and critically important in framing how we deal with issues that effect real people…all of us. Thanks Don for provoking thought.
Absolument! That’s French (almost!) for I agree. Dehumanization is pervading our American culture to the point that even our people are inconsequential now, our identities are disposable. This is deplorable.
You are right on the mark. The same dehumanizing language and actions are happening in our education system as well. Standardized test scores
have become the measure of student and teacher achievement.
Talk about dehumanizing. How bout’ Ann Colter’s remark, “Our
Blacks are better than their Blacks.” Didn’t know anyone owned people
anymore.