Lost for Words!

It was Ludwig Wittgenstein who used to counsel that we should be on our guard for the way language could ‘bewitch,’ highjack or even substitute for thought.

Politicians in particular in particular are fond of abstract or non quantifiable words that make them sound as though they are on the ball, progressive and attending to our needs. One word they love to do to death is ‘communities.’

It’s one of their hurrah words. After all communities have to be a good thing – don’t they? It’s where most of us want to live, where we can feel at home and help each other and bask in the glow of neighbourliness. It’s a good word and has a cosy reassuring feel which of course is why politicians have hi-jacked it. In fact it is now used so indiscriminately that we have all been led to believe communities exist where patently they do not…. And of course from there it’s but a short step to ‘community spokespersons’… individuals who end up with far more influence than they are entitled to.

When I was a young girl growing up in Yorkshire my friends and I saw ourselves as English and when we weren’t English we were British. Of course then you lived in Bradford, Leeds or Skipton, but either way we had a sense of national pride, cohesion and belonging. Now thanks to politicians, the media and social scientists we suddenly find ourselves part of a very disparate country. We now all belong to communities. The BBC News can no longer function without referring to the communities people belong to or the reaction of communities to events. When police spokespeople are interviewed it’s not uncommon for them to work three or four variants of the word ‘community’ into once sentence! The word has become part of the divisive mantra of political correctness. We all have to belong to one or more sub groups.

We now have the motoring, Muslim, Pakistani, Indian, Jewish, West Indian, football disabled and even criminal communities.

The other day my good friend the Vicar asked me what the view of the ‘gay community’ was. He looked genuinely distressed when I explained that I had no idea. I’d never seen it, been a member or even met any members. I proffered him my personal view, but somehow that didn’t hack it. He then carried on chairing the meeting and announced that there were locality issues we needed to discuss. I put my hand up and asked if we were discussing neighbourhood problems, then suggested that his real dominion was parish matters. He glowered and I had the distinct feeling I wouldn’t be invited gain.

My point is non existent communities are springing up all around us. A disparate handful of petrolheads who want to speed indiscriminately on our roads and rail about speed cameras have now become the ‘motoring community.’ Just as barmy in the linguistic sense are the people who want to stick to speed limits, they have become ‘speed camera partnerships’. Clearly ‘partnership’ is another of those hurrah words politicians are so fond of.

These new words and phrases are designed not so much to embrace a rapidly changing world, but simply to allow politicians to manipulate us. We may not know what they mean, but they sound good and lets face it they are not measurable. Meanwhile, like me you may be left wondering when you read that The National Association of Local Councils is dedicated to:

‘Making Community Delivery Happen and Maximising First tier Potential within the Community Delivery Agenda.’

That has to be good doesn’t it?