We are living in an age of euphemisms and doubletalk. “Birthing person,” “lactating person,” “gender fluid,” “non-binary,” and “cisgender” are all artificial constructs to replace “male” and “female.” These word games have consequences. A euphemism like “undocumented immigrants” points to the wrong solutions – Do we just issue them documents or change laws to make them “citizens”? If we call them what they are: “illegal aliens” or “border violators,” the logical solution is evident.
A few year back, I conceived of a personal code I called PUTEE. It sounded like something an Indian yogi might have peddled – haven’t we been brainwashed to believe that all wisdom comes from the East? Boomers were raised on Charlie Chan movies (“Confucius say…”) and fortune cookies, right? And didn’t the Beatles journey to India for the secrets of life? Aren’t bearded hermits in the Himalayas supposed to impart universal truths, at least that’s the message in newspaper cartoons. However, I digress.
PUTEE stands for Peace & Understanding Through the Elimination of Euphemisms. I still embrace PUTEE and urge all who will listen to join me. It’s not just about saying what you mean or ‘calling a spade a spade’. PUTEE is a path to truth and ultimately problem solving. It was inspired by the Italo-Maltese physician Dr. Edward de Bono who exited this world (I mean, ‘died’) last year at age 88. He spent most of his life in England developing and teaching what he termed Lateral Thinking. I got wind of de Bono in the 1960s.
Lateral Thinking is a method to look at things in different ways. Instead of digging the same hole deeper, Dr. de Bono taught us to move the shovel laterally and try a new spot. He used mini-stories like this one to get his point across: During World War II a bomber crew lost hydraulic fluid during a raid. Unable to control the plane the crew searched high and low for spare hydraulic fluid. In desperation, they restated the problem. Instead of “hydraulic” fluid they needed “any fluid.” Why not urine? Problem solved, crew saved – Lateral Thinking! His point: How many problems evade solution because they are misstated?
Think of the guy or gal who solved the problem of what to serve at an early “lunch” meeting – sandwiches or pancakes? Don’t limit the menu, change the word to “brunch.” Lateral Thinking!
Dr. de Bono was quite familiar with how words tie into human thinking. “The brain is not designed to be creative. The excellence of the brain arises from its ability to make patterns, to use these patterns and to reject deviations from these patterns.” Genius is built on pursuing deviations, being “counter-intuitive.”
To discourage Lateral Thinking, for whatever motive, some groups utilize certain words or phrases to seed thoughts into people’s brain patterns. It’s an old trick we used to call propaganda or just slogans (Make America Great Again!). Back in high school we learned how American newspapers drummed up war fever with “Remember the Maine!” before the Spanish-American War. We came to dismiss “yellow journalism,” as it was called, as a thing of the past. But it is the “unbiased” media that still sows the idea that Trump voters are members of a cult and made their contrary opinions into “disinformation” – like the Hunter Biden laptop – to influence the 2020 election. Even PUTEE was weaponized.
The opposite of euphemism is dys[dis]phemism. Instead of softening an offensive word, a dysphemism makes it more offensive. Think “old coot” for “elderly,” or “insurrection” for “riot.”
Last week, there were three anti-government riots overseas, two in Iraq another in Sri Lanka. In all cases, the parliaments were completely taken over by mobs. “…protesters used ropes and chains to topple concrete walls…in Baghdad, then flooded into the assembly building…125 people were injured in the violence…” [-AP]. In all three cases, government business was shut down for hours or days. More importantly, neither the NYTimes or the Associated Press used the word “insurrection.” Apparently, that dysphemism is reserved for domestic brain patterns. So, beware!
Embrace PUTEE! Think Laterally! – JLM
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