Words matter more than we can say

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

We are not slow to give out about our politicians and public representatives. But it must be a tough job.

Most of them work hard, are regularly away from their families, they lose their anonymity and every word they say is parsed to the nth degree.

There was the old adage that paper never refuses ink, certainly social media has no problem disseminating fake news 24/7.

Far too often we fail to see all the good that happens in our country. When I stand back and see the changes that have taken place in my lifetime in Ireland it is beyond our wildest dreams. Democracy has worked well in Ireland.

That does not mean we should not keep politicians on their toes. High standards must be the norm.

 

When we first heard Donald Trump use profanities we were shocked but we seem to have become accustomed to it and it doesn’t bother us any longer.

 

After the riots in Dublin on November 23 a flurry of words began to be used by public personages. In the Dáil on Wednesday, November 29 Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee referred to the rioters as ‘thugs’ and ‘scumbags’. That is not appropriate language for a government minister to use in our parliament.

How would we have reacted had the minister called them effers?

The word thug originates in India. It was given to criminals who stole from travellers. The British stamped out the practice in the 1830s.

Scumbag is a nasty word, it’s crude and vulgar too. Its origins come from a used condom.

I think Helen McEntee should be advised to be somewhat more accurate in her use of words, especially as she is Minister for Justice.

Some days after the Dublin riots Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty  used the word ‘masses' in an RTÉ Radio interview. It seemed he was referring to the general public. Was he including me when he used the word? 

Would he consider himself one of the masses or was it a slip of the tongue? It’s a word that frightens me. It has all sorts of pejorative connotations.

I was confused to hear Minister of State at the Department of Education, Josepha Madigan say on last week’s Upfront  programme on RTÉ 1: ‘We all have a subjective view of a particular word.’ What exactly does that mean?

On a lighter note, in a recent radio interview Simon Harris, Minister for Higher Education Research Innovation and Science said: ‘I think we have to be honest with the public.’ Yes, that phrase, ‘I think we have to be honest’, is one many of us use but does the minister have to think about being honest with us?

In the world of social media everyone, literate or illiterate, has a platform to say whatever she or he likes and it need have nothing to do with the truth. 

Well done to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, advising us all to stop ‘othering’ people. It’s a new verb for me but it makes great sense and something we all need to do.