Performativity: Speak Into Existence. Truth Part 8
Exerting Force Into Reality. How do words turn into reality? Learn about how language becoms a force.
Exerting Force Into Reality
“Men and women are performative and somatic fictions, convinced of their natural reality.”
― Beatriz Preciado
Imaginations can still exert force into the physical world through what is called “performativity.” Performativity is the practice of converting language into social action. Speech acts and non-verbal communication are considered performative in this sense. For example, asking someone at the dinner table, “Can you please pass the butter?” or holding your hand out while eye-balling the butter are two ways to convert language into action.
On the evening of November 9th, 1989, German news anchorman Hanns Joachim Friedrichs reported: “Die Tore in der Mauer stehen weit offen.” which translates to “The gates of the wall are wide open.” However, this was untrue at the time. The Berlin wall was originally built in 1961 “to keep so-called Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state” (history.com)
But according to a Washington Post article, the anchorman’s declaration sparked many East Berliners to gather near the wall. The border guards finally gave in and opened the gates in response to the protests over the next few following days.
Through the act of performativity, Joachim Friedrichs’ words became a political truth rapidly. His words went from the minds of his believers to the walls of Berlin, where thoughts became physical. Essentially his lie became a truth. This is an example of a political truth to an objective truth, as the event objectively took place following the report.
Religious Assertion
An illustration of how religions form would be similar to making a claim that:
the sacred elusive Gold and Blue dress was once worn by the goddess of the midday sun. It’s clear that the dress fell from the sky and is sometimes clothed with beautiful clear blue skies, and other times appears to be soaked in the majestic sun. The mighty power of this Goddess can still be observed on this sacred Shroud of Turin by all those who behold her. Just by looking at the holy dress, a person experiences clarity and warmth over all the troubles they have.
Oh, and by the way, prove me wrong.
Notice the exact same dress now. Is it appearing bluer than up top? It’s not a trick, nor is this image photoshopped. “It’s the Sacred Blue Dress Goddess revealing herself to you.” Either that or truth is not so black and white as you once believed. Truth is not blue and gold, either. Truth likely appears more black and blue than it did at the beginning of this article.
And the more you believe that this dress is blue by suggestion, the harder it will be to see it gold and white again. Not that much different from suggestively hearing brainstorm from the audio in Personal Truth Part 2. The more I suggest this dress is blue and black, the less you will ever believe it was gold and white.
There is power in suggestion, while there are hidden dangers as well. I recently wrote an article about organized religion and pointed out some of cult leaders’ influences. The UFO and Kool-Aid religions are among the most dangerous in society. Marshall Applewhite convinced 38 others that they were aliens, then convinced them all to commit mass suicide and hitch a ride on the comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. Likewise, Jim Jones formed the Peoples Religion and, in 1978, convinced 900 people to perform a ceremonial suicide as a “revolutionary protest.” Nearly 300 members who “drank the Kool-Aid” were said to be children.
This is a series piece 8 of 9. Below is the next article.
The Hidden Dangers of Truth. Truth Part 9 >>
The Hidden Dangers of Truth. Truth Part 9
When Truth Gets Out Of Control. Closing Arguments about the Philosophy of Truth and Reality.medium.com
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