At a Loss for Words: Conversation in the Age of Rage

I’ve just finished reading At a Loss for Words: Conversations in an Age of Rage by Carol Off. I have a much better understanding now of what far-right parties around the world hope to achieve, and it runs counter to everything I was brought up to believe in by a father who was, I expect, the first in his family to obtain a university degree and a mother who lived her Christian beliefs by helping other people. Carol Off says, “The Canadian system of redistributed wealth for the common good made sense to my father, based on his life experience, and it makes sense to me … What I hope for is that we find ways to renew our commitment to being citizens who contribute, and not serfs who labour and customers who bargain. It’s about show more reconstructing a government that takes care of its people (even those who fail to vote for it) and a political system that’s transparent … Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said it best: taxes are the price we pay for civilization. My father was on his team and so am I.”

“We can still avert disaster. We have the ability to listen, to attempt to understand, to vote, to accept people who are not exactly like us into our societies and our circles to care for each other again. But we need to talk to each other, to be able to disagree with people’s opinions without hating them for expressing them.” show less

This book looks at communication in t he political sphere and examines how certain words have been co-opted by one side or the other. These co-opted words sometimes lose virtually any meaning; at other times, their meaning becomes warped or even weaponized. Six words are examined in depth, citing examples from recent political discourse. These words are: freedom, democracy, truth, woke, choice and taxes.

As a long-time journalist, the author draws on her experience to show how discourse is changing for the worse and how the power of words affect our politics, and ultimately, our future. She sees t he potential consequences of weaponized language as far ranging and serious in terms of what kind of society we will have Her analysis is show more solid and well presented.

Well written, engaging and thought-provoking. show less

I couldn't finish this. Although I have no sympathy for the crazies that participated in the occupation of Ottawa and other such nonsense about 'freedom' neither do I believe that countries like Canada are particularly democratic. Does it make a difference that some nitwits vote people into great power on the basis of the appeal of their portraits or family photos whilst others threaten to overthrow this foolishness because they follow confused buffoons. Ms Off comes off sounding like an apologist for what we used to call The Establishment.