Reading Response

Reading John Gage has caused me to realize that from the moment I learned my ABC’s, I’ve been being trained to string concepts together in hopes of someday articulating my thoughts.
Personally, when I begin to contemplate language and the important role it plays in a person’s conscious thoughts, words begin to turn into a vaguely visible gas, rather that the solid clay I had always imagined them as. Just the concept of these beautiful organs inside our heads being able to churn and process these words into tangible ideas and opinions puts me in a state of awe.
Not only that, but now we’ve moved into an area where we are studying the difference between saying, “commercial television threatens to diminish the intellectual standards of American society because most people would rather watch television than read” and “commercial television threatens to diminish the intellectual standards of American society because it demands no thought from the viewer.” (Page 94, The Shape of Reason) Far beyond just the words, we are studying the conceptual meaning of the different implications and how they could be translated by a person’s individual intellect.
It’s shocking how quickly we mature from using words to demand basic needs, to using words in a manner that’s intended to change someone psychologically. Obviously language meets more than the basic requirement of receiving necessities such as food and water. It makes me question the drive behind the use of language, and contemplate what would happen if we were somehow incapable of articulating our thoughts. It reminds me of the frustration that can be seen in a small child who is beginning to learn this creative nature of speaking, and is having a hard time communicating their meaning to others. What is it in a child’s psyche that causes them to believe in advanced communication being so important? What is it that causes anyone to rely on it?