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How language manipulates us

If you show a group of people a colour, those who called it 鈥榞reen鈥� will remember it as a being more green than it actually was. This is what Nick Enfield described as 鈥榲erbal overshadowing.鈥�

鈥淚n the very act of naming an experience, we erase information from our own memory of that experience,鈥� said , a professor in Linguistics and Director of the at the University of Sydney. 聽

鈥淟anguage requires us to frame reality in a certain way. It gives us the power to do that. And with that power comes responsibility. It raises ethical questions about what we are doing with language when we describe things that we've seen and experienced.鈥澛�

He spoke about news reporting on domestic violence and pointed to , a project by journalist Jane Gilmore to push back on the , and blaming of victims.聽聽

鈥淲hen you read somebody鈥檚 description of something, your interpretation is being controlled by their words and when you describe something, you control their interpretation 鈥� and not only that, you potentially overshadow and change your own beliefs about the things you're talking about.鈥�

鈥淎s users and as consumers of words we have a duty to use them both mindfully and ethically.鈥�

Are bots limiting our ability to think?

, who lectures in the Department of Government and International Relations, argued that bots control us in more ways than we think.

We think of bots as subservient to us 鈥� tools that perform a certain function. 鈥淭hey're like the foot soldiers of the Internet and we are the generals. We command them鈥� but actually, we don鈥檛.鈥�

For one, they鈥檙e not just helping us to make decisions 鈥� they鈥檙e making them for us.

鈥淚t's not available in Australia yet, but Google Home Assistant in the US can tell you, hey it looks like you're running out of milk tomorrow,鈥� explained Sinpeng. 聽

鈥淚 wasn't even wanting to buy milk or peanut butter five minutes ago and that was bought. It's paid for, is ready for pickup, and I haven't had time to catch my breath.鈥�

Second, bots can make us believe things that aren't even true and change our perception of reality. Bots have been used to disseminate large amounts of information and most are benign, but some have been designed to deceive and manipulate opinion.

In the past year, there鈥檚 been a string of . 鈥淎 number of rights groups and investigative journalists have argued that bots were actually partly behind this after being sent false information,鈥� said Singpeng.

In another case, bots have also contributed to the 鈥渙ngoing insidious against ethnic minorities.鈥�

How did we get to a point where bots have become so influential in our lives?

鈥淭he answer is language, because bots and all robots are run on human languages. Basically, all advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning 鈥� They're fed databases of all these words to learn so that they can better mimic our behaviour and act like us and talk like us and understand the emotions and the context in which words are used.鈥�

鈥淲e can design brainier devices because we're curious. But how far are we willing to let our curiosity goals go before they control us and limit our freedom to think?鈥�

How do we deal with taboo words?

Joanne Arciuli spoke about the powerful physical response we have to taboo words. What do we define as 鈥榯aboo鈥�? According to an American study published in 2015, the top 10 taboo words included 鈥榝uck鈥� and 鈥榮hit鈥�.

, an Associate Professor working in the area of linguistics, psychology and disability, takes particular interest in words related to this context.

鈥溌燵UK broadcast regulator] looked at mental health and disability related taboo words 鈥� Supposedly mildly offensive words in this category included 鈥榣oony鈥�, 鈥榥utter鈥� and 鈥榩sycho鈥�.

鈥淚 think you'll agree that some of us use these words without even realising that they ostracise and diminish people with disabilities.鈥�

鈥�It's true that taboo words are highly salient stimuli for our brains,鈥� said Arciuli. 鈥淐an we in fact harness the power of these taboo words to suit our own purposes?鈥�

For example, 鈥�. I don't know if you do this but if I stub my toe or have some sort of minor physical accident I swear a lot. It seems to help and scientists have looked into this,鈥� said Arciuli.

鈥淭aboo words have sometimes been reclaimed by minority groups. Think of a word like 鈥榳og鈥� in the Australian context. This derogatory term was often applied to Italian and Greek immigrants and their families. The term has now been adopted by some Greek an Italian Australians is a positive marker of identity. If you're on Twitter, check out the hashtag . Despite 鈥榗ripple鈥� being strongly offensive, disability advocates have reclaimed a variant of this word to highlight issues which affect disabled people during election campaigns."

Arciuli suggested that 鈥渨e can start working on increasing our awareness of the ways that these words can be used and perhaps start using them in more positive ways.鈥�

The problem in our political discourse

Now, which sounds better? 鈥溾�橝 better plan for a better future鈥�, or 鈥榓 better future with a better plan鈥�?

is a professor at the University and Director of Sydney Policy Lab. In a past life, he was a speechwriter for the UK Labor Party and he spoke about the consequences of politicians speaking in slogans and abstract terms.

Why do they do it? Because it works. 鈥淭ime and time again, these slogans which seem so ridiculous and so bland actually poll extraordinarily well. So, when I was a speechwriter, I was constantly told 鈥榶ou've got to have those lines in because the science tells us they work鈥�.

鈥淒on't talk about human beings. Talk about hard working families. Don't talk about migration questions in the open.鈥�

Why is this a problem? One reason, said Stears, is that 鈥渢hese slogans mask some really deeply unpleasant realities.

鈥淥bviously the most extravagant example of this at the moment is the language of Donald Trump. What does 鈥榤ake America great again鈥� mean if you're on the southern border of the United States at the moment?

鈥淕eorge Orwell back in the 1940s spotted this as one of the most fundamental dangers of political life. He said 鈥榃hen people speak blandly they're probably hiding great evil. And if we don't stop speaking in that grandiose empty language we won't be able to detect the evils that are going on鈥�.鈥�

As a result, this language impacts on people鈥檚 ability to engage in issues and trust politicians.

鈥淚f the people who are meant to be our representatives and are meant to be making decisions for us 鈥� are thought of as fundamentally different from us, then we have a fundamental breach in the way our system is meant to work. Representative democracy is meant to be just that 鈥� when people govern, when they deliberate in parliament, they're meant to be representing us. So, isn't it time that they spoke like us?"

Listen to the conversation in full on the Sydney Ideas podcast, available on聽,听聽and wherever you listen.

The podcast was recorded at '' on Thursday 6 June, 2019.聽

Featured image and event photography by Nicola Bailey.