Word Power

We've all said and written words we regret. We may not have meant them as they were decoded by others, but the truth is, that communication is a two-way street. When you get into the wrong "lane" watch out. Reactions can be lethal and misleading in one way or another. People in high places have to be very careful about what words they use. The media is "the message" these days and a headline, while the business of selling media to its customers is their game, it may only be understood fully on digesting the whole piece. Media's job, being a commercial enterprise, is to get your attention. It sells.  The minute you latch onto your personal interpretation without some filtering genre of your own, you're hooked. A housekeeper of mine some time ago, who persisted in reading headlines only, when we met each day, would have some world shattering news event such as earth ending, the government collapsing or the roof falling in, which she outlined to me as she took off her coat. All was accomplished in headlines, according to dear Irene. The woman was in a constant state of consternation and semi-hysterics, but she was certainly someone with whom to open your morning if not broadly, your eyes. I didn't have the heart to ruin her day. It included excitable speaker phone conversations with her friends, like-headline-readers. I chanced, on occasion, to buy one of the sensationalist papers that she had for their outre stories, and read a few whole articles. Out of context, in the way she understood them, and how the editors permitted them, the headlines were true, in their way. When it said "Ninety Year Old Has A Baby", the true meaning was that the ninety year old, had a baby, but the baby was an animal. Irene, my housekeeper now long gone, didn't care to read the whole story and perhaps for her daily entertainment value, didn't want to. The headline alone was fodder for much chat among her friends who discussed all of the implications around their interpretations. It was entertainment, and relatively harmless. Today's readers are far more discriminating out of necessity, and do delve into what's in a headline. Furthermore they go on-line for greater detail. Of course, what we read as "information" on-line doesn't have to be accurate or reliable or even completely factual. Finding sites that one can trust is much like the "old days" of picking newsprint for its authority. Schools do have programs in teaching students how to assess what media pounds out. That, hopefully, provides a readers' system to give order and good sense to the usefulness of what we consume. Good night! Irene.