You Can't Hear the Forest for the Trees.

    Words mean things, sometimes more than we realize.  It's more important what we think is said than what actually was said.  Here's an example. If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it does it make a noise?  Yes, it does.
    If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it does it make a sound?  No, it does not.
    Here's why.  The word "noise" refers to a physical phenomenon.  That noise can become a sound if someone hears it because "sound"  implies someone hearing.
    If you say something like that in an entry-level philosophy class you get an A.  Pretty clever huh?   I kinda cheated though because back then I was interested in Marshall McLuhan and S I Hayakawa.  Ya know, I just recently found out Galileo said that four hundred years ago, albeit in Italian.  I'm not going to tell my professor.  Even 40 years ago I got bored so others wouldn't have to.
    I mention it now because it's so easy to turn language into some sort of sleight of hand. Take the word "reform".  To most people that word implies improvement.  In point of fact, it merely means, ' to change.'  We are left to assume the change will be beneficial.  Further, we are left to believe the change will be beneficial to the majority. Is it?  Two simple words when posed as a question that can deflate almost any argument.  I'm reminded of an old joke.  A professor is expounding on the difference between mathematics and language.  The professor says, in math two negatives can make a positive but in English two positives can never make a negative.  From the back of the lecture hall a small voice is heard to mutter, " Yeah, right."  Two more small words.
    Currently, we are being bombarded with words of a neutral meaning substituted for words meant to instill fear. It's really kinda shameful.  The word "immigrant" is being used to mean " evil other".  Why? We live in a nation built by immigrants.  Muslim is being used to mean evil.  Why?  It refers to a religion that makes no more or less sense than any other.  Remember, Catholicism was used to justify the Inquisition and the Baptist faith was often used to justify lynching.  Recently our collective Judeo- Christian faith has been invoked to justify torture. The words "birth certificate"  have become a perfectly acceptable way to yell the "N" word in the best of circles. How?  As in;  how did we let that happen?
    Last week no less than the head of the CIA said democracy had been threatened and harmed by people leaking sensitive government information.  He denounced seeing the culture of leakers as heroes. He was outraged by Wiki-Leaks, Snowden, Manning et al.  Thinking back about those things I was left with the one-word question:  How?   How were we harmed?  I don't think he could answer that simple question.  I can't.  Can you?
    We are left with the responsibility to listen carefully and ask simple questions. A kind word turns away wrath.  A simple question turns away stupidity.