The Stupidity of Communications

Abstract

In the formation and transformation of culture and its transmission across generations, communication is paramount. In fact, learning, unlearning and relearning are all communicative processes fundamental to the development and existence of culture [1]. This is not a uniquely human phenomenon, as many amniotic species depend upon their considerable learning capabilities in the development of their social organization and general behavior. While this basic cultural process is part of our biological heritage [2], language gives human culture its distinctive flair. In developing the cultural capacity for stupidity to human desiderata, language proved to be a most effective mechanism in that it both inhibits and subverts awareness. It is language which provides us with our basic misperceptions, which culture then embellishes and disseminates. Thus, self-unawareness is promoted when language permits us to misinterpret embarrassing events into socially acceptable contexts. Although sense organs give us our first impressions of our environment, words fix our attitudes, direct the process of data selection and strongly influence the misinterpretation of information so that we may misconstrue experiences.