Monkey Metaphysics

Posted on June 16, 2007
Filed Under Journal |

Word games are pretty annoying. Not the word games you find in puzzle books, but the type that get played out everyday - corporate politics, mediaspeak and the like. It’s all about turning the words inside out, reversing meaning - until the words no longer reflect reality. It’s a form of metaphysics. And whilst it is perceived as the hallmark of the intelligent, it actually requires little awareness at all. It’s Monkey Metaphysics.

So what constitutes such word games? Well most often it appears as self-referring language; sentences that talk about themselves but hold fairly little content. Contracts then are a prime example. The trick of Monkey Metaphysics is to create ambiguity, which will usually benefit whomever wrote the words. It’s merely an attempt to confound the mind - because over the centuries we have become increasingly dependent upon using words to define our reality.

There are people who will witness a particular event or occurrence, the reality of that event is determined by what they have seen and felt. Yet once that event is reported by the newspapers - which have their own biased and sometimes incorrect view of the situation - the witnesses choose the believe the written word over their own senses. It is the same as when people attempt to justify something as being authoritative because “The TV said so”. This is well understood and is where the Monkey Metaphysics comes in.

Monkey Intellect

Manipulation of words. Because in manipulating words it is possible to manipulate an individuals view of reality. Push this technique far enough and peoples perspective no longer correlates to reality - but rather a twisted clone of it. Such language is always interpreted in a literal manner, in the event it is ambiguous then it will be shoehorned into a specific meaning that serves the aims of the author.

Aside from the written form of Monkey Metaphysics there is also the spoken kind. Word games played out in a little dance as the speaker attempts to manipulate and skewer reality. This is often done by corporate types, and of course politicians. There are a number of ways of dealing with this attempt at manipulation. One is to simply go along with whatever is being said - without the intention of actually following through or agreeing. Another method is to respond with very clear cut language. Someone may attempt as hard as they like to tell you that you need to work additional hours, or that there is a benefit to have a dozen CCTV cameras down your street - make your response simple.

Manipulation of language thrives on complexity. Simplicity is its greatest enemy. And the reason for this is obvious…monkey’s tend to be simple themselves…and so endeavor to create the illusion of complexity.

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One Response to “Monkey Metaphysics”

Solar Climate Change : The Thoughts on September 22nd, 2007 9:12 am

[…] changes are not connected to the changes on Earth, that they are mere coincidence. Using a form of Monkey Metaphysics, scientists distract from the issue, by stating that the only thing that connects all the planets […]
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