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So, here's a carefully packaged sentence that shows me in my best light So, here's a carefully packaged sentence that shows me in my best light
(2 months later)
So. This piece is about how public figures and now members of the general public have started prefacing something they are about to say with the word "so" when it is a packaged exercise in self-presentation. "So" is the new "look". Look was the word Tony Blair made his own as a verbal preface for whatever he was about to say. The most startling example was his: "Look, I think most people would say I'm an honest kinda guy": pure doublethink, it turned out, following his speech about WMDs.So. This piece is about how public figures and now members of the general public have started prefacing something they are about to say with the word "so" when it is a packaged exercise in self-presentation. "So" is the new "look". Look was the word Tony Blair made his own as a verbal preface for whatever he was about to say. The most startling example was his: "Look, I think most people would say I'm an honest kinda guy": pure doublethink, it turned out, following his speech about WMDs.
You may think this is a trivial matter but remember George Orwell's famous exhortations about the importance of the use of language in public life. As he showed in his book 1984, language can be manipulated to change reality. Notable examples of so's in recent times include Jeremy Hunt's carefully manicured spiel to the Leveson inquiry about the role of his special adviser, Adam Smith. Hunt was about to ask us to believe that he had no idea at all that his hand-picked, closest political confidante was communicating inside information about the government's position on Rupert Murdoch's takeover of BSkyB.You may think this is a trivial matter but remember George Orwell's famous exhortations about the importance of the use of language in public life. As he showed in his book 1984, language can be manipulated to change reality. Notable examples of so's in recent times include Jeremy Hunt's carefully manicured spiel to the Leveson inquiry about the role of his special adviser, Adam Smith. Hunt was about to ask us to believe that he had no idea at all that his hand-picked, closest political confidante was communicating inside information about the government's position on Rupert Murdoch's takeover of BSkyB.
Perhaps starting with the word "so" was a psychological punctuation mark to himself, as much as us, that he was about to deliver a rehearsed manipulation of the truth, a way of steadying himself as he prepared to deliver a speech, like an actor. A similar "so" came from the mouth of James Murdoch when up before the all-party parliamentary select committee on the media. He was being walked by the MPs through the minefield of what he did and did not know about phone-hacking by News of the World journalists. His "so" smelt of hours of being coached by professional impression managers (pace his father's opening statement to the committee, "this is the most humble day of my life").Perhaps starting with the word "so" was a psychological punctuation mark to himself, as much as us, that he was about to deliver a rehearsed manipulation of the truth, a way of steadying himself as he prepared to deliver a speech, like an actor. A similar "so" came from the mouth of James Murdoch when up before the all-party parliamentary select committee on the media. He was being walked by the MPs through the minefield of what he did and did not know about phone-hacking by News of the World journalists. His "so" smelt of hours of being coached by professional impression managers (pace his father's opening statement to the committee, "this is the most humble day of my life").
That "so" has replaced "look" does not, in itself, signify anything. It used to be placed at the end of sentences, in a "cute" and utterly meaningless verbal tic popularised by the TV series Friends. There have always been words swilling around the cultural lexicon signalling artifice and there are others around at the moment. Prefacing a package with "I would like to say" or "To be honest" are hardy perennials. But "so" is the weasel word of the moment, spreading into general usage.That "so" has replaced "look" does not, in itself, signify anything. It used to be placed at the end of sentences, in a "cute" and utterly meaningless verbal tic popularised by the TV series Friends. There have always been words swilling around the cultural lexicon signalling artifice and there are others around at the moment. Prefacing a package with "I would like to say" or "To be honest" are hardy perennials. But "so" is the weasel word of the moment, spreading into general usage.
Last Monday evening, a member of the public was interviewed on Radio 5 Live outside Buckingham Palace. Asked why she and her friend had come there, she began: "So. We went out to dinner together and both received texts from our husbands at the same time saying that the royal baby was born." "So" has become a way for a person to begin delivery of a packaged account of themselves.Last Monday evening, a member of the public was interviewed on Radio 5 Live outside Buckingham Palace. Asked why she and her friend had come there, she began: "So. We went out to dinner together and both received texts from our husbands at the same time saying that the royal baby was born." "So" has become a way for a person to begin delivery of a packaged account of themselves.
So what? Care should be taken before building ideological mountains out of verbal molehills. But I think all this So-ing may be a symptom of broader trends. It is a fact that we have become what Erich Fromm characterised as marketing characters in a marketing society. Such characters experience themselves as commodities whose value and meaning are externally determined. They define themselves by having rather than being, by what they own, not who they are. This homo consumens is a thing to be bought and sold, just like a house or a car. All of us are involved in trying to increase the value of the commodity that is us.So what? Care should be taken before building ideological mountains out of verbal molehills. But I think all this So-ing may be a symptom of broader trends. It is a fact that we have become what Erich Fromm characterised as marketing characters in a marketing society. Such characters experience themselves as commodities whose value and meaning are externally determined. They define themselves by having rather than being, by what they own, not who they are. This homo consumens is a thing to be bought and sold, just like a house or a car. All of us are involved in trying to increase the value of the commodity that is us.
An Australian study of such people showed that, among other things, people who score high on a test of marketing character are heavy consumers, uncritical of society and have a strong drive to publicise and promote themselves. With a 24-hour news cycle, public figures have been forced to become acutely wary of what they say in public. Frank authenticity has almost disappeared. Even the Today programme sometimes seems as if it has given up the struggle to uncover the truth. But, more profoundly, the present ruling elite – many of whom never knew a society that was not governed by Thatcherism or Blairism, have been forced from a young age to market themselves. The pursuit of money, status and fame (affluenza, materialism) are our primary values.An Australian study of such people showed that, among other things, people who score high on a test of marketing character are heavy consumers, uncritical of society and have a strong drive to publicise and promote themselves. With a 24-hour news cycle, public figures have been forced to become acutely wary of what they say in public. Frank authenticity has almost disappeared. Even the Today programme sometimes seems as if it has given up the struggle to uncover the truth. But, more profoundly, the present ruling elite – many of whom never knew a society that was not governed by Thatcherism or Blairism, have been forced from a young age to market themselves. The pursuit of money, status and fame (affluenza, materialism) are our primary values.
When I was a lad in the 1960s and an undergraduate in the early 1970s, the idea of doing internships during holidays to market myself to future employers was unknown and would have been anathema. Our goal was to please ourselves, intrinsically satisfying work was king.When I was a lad in the 1960s and an undergraduate in the early 1970s, the idea of doing internships during holidays to market myself to future employers was unknown and would have been anathema. Our goal was to please ourselves, intrinsically satisfying work was king.
Modern children are under massive pressure from a young age to give the teachers and employers what they want. They also pressurise each other to do so – pictures of "hot bods" on Facebook, creating Tumblr personal sites to impress (mostly just packed with second-hand material like advertisements), a much greater concern with fashion.Modern children are under massive pressure from a young age to give the teachers and employers what they want. They also pressurise each other to do so – pictures of "hot bods" on Facebook, creating Tumblr personal sites to impress (mostly just packed with second-hand material like advertisements), a much greater concern with fashion.
The packaging of self has become crucial for success in a service-industry-based economy. How your contribution is perceived is more important than what you have actually contributed, so office politics (impression management) have become the key to promotion and pay.The packaging of self has become crucial for success in a service-industry-based economy. How your contribution is perceived is more important than what you have actually contributed, so office politics (impression management) have become the key to promotion and pay.
So. What a shame.So. What a shame.
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