5. what does a word hold?
Set on the island of Lesbos, Daphnis and Chloe is the oldest surviving romantic novel. Written by Longus in the 2nd century AD, it tells the story of two young people who fall in love, but are so innocent that they don't understand what is happening to them or know what to do about it. It isn't until Chloe begins searching for words to describe Daphnis's beauty that she falls in love with him.
When a word is well-defined, Simone Weil wrote in 1937, it helps us "to understand a concrete reality or objective, or a way of acting. Clarifying ideas, discrediting intrinsically empty words, and defining the use of other words through precise analysis is, strange as it may seem, a way of saving human lives" (quote from an essay entitled The Power of Words, inspired by her experience during the Spanish Civil War).
It is tempting to think that it doesn't matter what we call the system in which we live. Whether we call it technofeudalism or hypercapitalism, the system is what it is, regardless of the word we use to describe it. It may be tempting, but it's a mistake. Reserving the word "fascist" for regimes that truly fall into that category and refraining from using it to describe others that, however unpleasant they may be, are not, is highly relevant. Calling a viral outbreak a pandemic can be vital for mobilizing against it. The same is true of the global system in which we live: the word we use to describe it can profoundly influence whether we are more likely to perpetuate and reproduce it or whether we can challenge and even overthrow it.
Set on the island of Lesbos, Daphnis and Chloe is the oldest surviving romantic novel. Written by Longus in the 2nd century AD, it tells the story of two young people who fall in love, but are so innocent that they don't understand what is happening to them or know what to do about it. It isn't until Chloe begins searching for words to describe Daphnis's beauty that she falls in love with him.
When a word is well-defined, Simone Weil wrote in 1937, it helps us "to understand a concrete reality or objective, or a way of acting. Clarifying ideas, discrediting intrinsically empty words, and defining the use of other words through precise analysis is, strange as it may seem, a way of saving human lives" (quote from an essay entitled The Power of Words, inspired by her experience during the Spanish Civil War).
It is tempting to think that it doesn't matter what we call the system in which we live. Whether we call it technofeudalism or hypercapitalism, the system is what it is, regardless of the word we use to describe it. It may be tempting, but it's a mistake. Reserving the word "fascist" for regimes that truly fall into that category and refraining from using it to describe others that, however unpleasant they may be, are not, is highly relevant. Calling a viral outbreak a pandemic can be vital for mobilizing against it. The same is true of the global system in which we live: the word we use to describe it can profoundly influence whether we are more likely to perpetuate and reproduce it or whether we can challenge and even overthrow it.
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5. ¿qué encierra una palabra?
Ambientada en la isla de Lesbos, Dafnis y Cloe es la novela romántica más antigua que se conserva. Escrita por Longo en el s. II d.C., cuenta la historia de dos jóvenes que se enamoran, pero que son tan inocentes que no entienden lo que les ocurre ni saben qué hacer con ello. Hasta que Cloe no empieza a buscar palabras para describir la belleza de Dafnis, ella no se enamora de él.
Cuando una palabra está bien definida, escribió Simone Weil en 1937, nos ayuda "a comprender una realidad o un objetivo concretos, o una manera de actuar. Aclarar ideas, desacreditar palabras intrínsecamente vacías y definir el uso de otras palabras mediante análisis precisos es, por extraño que parezca, una forma de salvar vidas humanas" (cita de un ensayo titulado El poder de las palabras, inspirado en su experiencia durante la Guerra Civil española).
Es tentador pensar que no importa cómo llamamos al sistema en el que vivimos. Ya lo llamemos tecnofeudalismo o hipercapitalismo, el sistema es el que es, con independencia de la palabra que utilicemos para describirlo. Tal vez sea muy tentador, pero es un error. Reservar la palabra fascista para los regímenes que de verdad entran en esa categoría y abstenerse de utilizarla para describir otros que, por desagradables que resulten, no lo son, es muy relevante. Llamar pandemia a un brote viral puede ser vital para movilizarse contra él. Lo mismo ocurre con el sistema global en el que vivimos: la palabra que utilicemos para describirlo puede influir profundamente en si somos más propensos a perpetuarlo y reproducirlo o si podemos desafiarlo e incluso derrocarlo.
cape Maria Van Diemen, cape Reinga, North Island, New Zealand (2013)
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