Day 161

'Mightier than sword', Pen on Paper

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword in that the written word and communication is more powerful than war and violence ever could be. What makes the pen so powerful is that most of what we understand about the world comes from the written word and the information passed down throughout generations. Sure there have been wars for independence, there have been wars that have ended tyranny and wars that have seen nations grow and some all but disappear. It could be said that war has the ability to change the world and it does however the irony is that whilst violence can change so much it is mostly through the medium of the written word and communication that we even know that these things have taken place. When you think of it whilst violence may have the ability to hurt, maim and injure it is words that have the ability to convey forgiveness, generate peace and the act of communication is key in the building, re-building and restructuring of civilisations. In saying this it is also key to consider the destructive power of the word in being able to ravish reputations, overthrow governments, undermine authority and shatter the credibility of those seen to be in power. It is then a case that the pen has the ability not only to heal but to destroy as well and if you consider the gossip fuelled tabloid society that we exist in today it is even more visible as to the power that the written word has, even if it doesn't appear in it's traditional from. The emergence of the information age, what with television, tabloid journalism, the internet and the mobile telephone mean that word spreads much more quickly than ever before. The result is that in order to cripple someone's credibility and thus lead to the slow collapse of the life they lead, it is no longer necessary to announce their discrepancies with an almighty roar... Instead an unassuming yet mischievous 'tweet' is loud enough to be heard the world over. The problem that exists now is that the level of information that is hurled at us on a daily basis, partially as we seem to have developed a much shorter attention span, means we can become lost in a sea of opinion as we get easily distracted by another celebrities latest dalliance, wardrobe malfunction or complete and utter public meltdown and humiliation. Furthermore what with the multitude of outlets that anyone with an opinion, a PC and a few hours of there time can quite easily access and begin churning out page after page of hateful slurs, insane rumours and conspiracy filled bullshit it becomes difficult to not take everything we read with a pinch of salt. The word losses some of it's weight as instead of the intelligent, the learned and the well versed given us the information it comes from hacks, idiots and twenty-somethings whose idea of journalism revolves around wearing skinny jeans, back combing their hair and shouting profanities through a microphone whilst asking people which Thundercat they most identify with. In saying this though it is still always going to be the case that the word will have more weight than an act of violence, as much more can be accomplished from the word and indeed without the word these acts of violence would have no legacy as no one would know about them. With all this said I would like you to think about one last thing, that being that whilst the pen is considered to be mightier than the sword, a picture is said to be capable of painting a thousand words. Would it then be safe to assume that the image is much more powerful than the word or is it a case that the visual is just a further method of validation that has become more necessary due to the way in which the word is now used.