Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk

"Ernest Hemingway was once asked -- what is the most important quality of a great writer? Hemingway thought about it a long moment -- and then he said, what a writer needs more than anything else is a built in, shock-proof, crap detector." With this premise and others, Postman starts one of his most amusing and insightful early books, Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk. In this book, written back in 1976, the late professor Neil Postman examines every deceptive or misdirected pattern we habitually employ in using language to give form to our thoughts and to communicate with others. Crazy Talk Stupid Talk takes on the monumental task of examining errors in logic that occur in our language and thus in our thinking. Grabbing hold of words in this way may seem like wrestling a greased pig, and the subject is full of ambiguity and complexity, but in undertaking the endeavor of identifying stupid talk and crazy talk, Postman has modelled his approach to language after that of doctors and lawyers. When you go to a doctor, it's not because you're seeking advice about good health. A doctor is usually going to ask, "Well, what's the trouble?" Another important foundation in examining irrational forms of talk, according to Postman, is that language and communication never take place in a vacuum. "If communication is to happen, we require not merely messages, but an ordered situation in which messages can assume meaning," he says, in other words, a "semantic environment". I love Postman's funny examples of stupid talk. Here is one: "When Lynette Squeaky Fromm was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford, she said 'I want Manson out. I want a world of peace"' Considering the hideous circumstances by which Manson came to be imprisoned, and considering what most people mean by peace, you might say Miss Fromme exhibited an almost wondrous creativity in putting those two sentences together." But aside from the often amusing examples in this book, Postman's finest moments come as he analyzes 17 beliefs, habits of speech, and structural characteristics of language people use which play an indispensable role in the production of nonsense. What we have here, in short, is a catalog of irrational behavior that is amusingly entertaining, and yet also invaluable. Let's take a look at a few of these methods of madness, among them Eichmannism, definition tyranny, sloganeering, and fanaticism. Communication as Panacea -- "the mistaken idea that all problems arise through a lack of communication. Silence, reticence, restraint and even dishonesty can be a virtue under certain circumstances. Freud teaches us that civilization is NOT possible without inhibition -- that civilization IS possible only when people keep feelings to themselves -- feelings not relevant to the situation at hand." Here's another one: Fanaticism -- "Fanaticism has many faces, not all of them violent or hysterical." What you will find most intriguing about the

I have read this wonderful book several times, and have found enlightenment in its pages each time. Postman is a lucid writer, and an expert on how the words we use can use us. He presents the ideas of General Semantics in humorous and insightful manner. This book is a primer on understanding the mechanics and effects of the most powerful tool we have: language.

I whole-heartedly agree with the previous reviewer's impression of this amusing, but keenly insightful book (which I came across 6 years ago at a public library in Miami, Florida, off campus near Florida International University). Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk reveals how language is used in subtly deceptive ways everyday both in public and in private, often unwittingly. Drawing examples from real life - statements made commonly on TV and in print, even in private conversations and self-talk - Postman shows how our thoughtless misuse of language frequently causes us to frame ideas in completely illogical contexts, and see things from ludicrously improper perspectives. This book motivated me to more critically examine my own thought-life. As a result, I soon detected and was able to correct several self-defeating thought patterns which had led to skewed perspectives I was previously unaware of. A gem of a book. You'll laugh out loud at some points. Read it if you can find a copy!