Hint of the day

Suppose social, political, and economic life is almost entirely dictated by billions of tiny hints passed from person to person in numerous ways and vast numbers. Suppose the general form of these micro-hints is - this is how I see it. Body language is some of it, while some is verbal but it’s a long, complex and well-trodden area of social life. It is cultural too, which is why multiculturalism is necessarily divisive.

The point to be made is that micro-hints are not strong assertions. They occupy a more exploratory level, allowing low level responses from a shrug to a nod to a facial expression which says such things as maybe, oh, hmm, snigger, okay, really? Micro-hints may even be ignored without causing too much social friction.

Many or even most real world social exchanges are probably of this type. In which case we must be seeing a significant contrast between discourse through micro-hints and the more or less concrete assertions we constantly receive from mainstream media. That’s why media folk seem to be mad most of the time – it’s the constant shouting. The hints, particularly the important ones go on behind the scenes.

The media want drama, tragedy, horror, outrage, stridency and all the other bombastic crud which kills the hints and stomps on the nuances of genuine discourse. That’s the point – they kill the crucial exploratory role of nuances, hints and suggestions.

We need those exploratory nuances to work out some kind of route to what is really going on. Often more than one route. In other words the mainstream media do not reflect the way constructive discourse actually evolves. They do not reflect the way real discourse feels its way step by step towards something better. The media do not reflect real life interests, concerns, or even political significance because that would be the end of talking down to us.

That’s my hint of the day.