Saturday, January 21, 2017

Pronouns

Counting pronouns in speeches has become a parlor game in the media.  I recall the hospital chaplain gushing, her voice breaking, that Obama had used the word "we," whatever number of times in his inauguration speech. To quote Inigo Montoya "You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means." When Obama uses "we," it is in formulations such as We must resist the urge to demonise those who are different...we must guard against fake news...we must get our facts right...we must stop making excuses on the refugee crisis... 

I don't think there is any indication he has ever meant himself in these comments.  Does anyone claim that Obama is confessing his own sins when he talks about demonising those who are different?  If you are a supporter of his, you try and give him the benefit of some doubt that he means "All of us, some more than others, it's a journey, a process."  Is there any evidence of this in any of his other statements, suggesting that he deserves this benefit? 

There is none. He means a plural "you," and especially his opponents. They are the ones who must do x or y going forward.  He's already done it, you see, and so have his supporters. This is confessing the sins of others, a particularly vile form of hypocrisy we have discussed before around CS Lewis's The Dangers Of National Repentance.

The counters tell me that Trump used "I" very little, but "we" and "you" a fair bit.  I'm not entirely sure what he means by the latter two.  In common usage, "we" means something between Well you, actually, with me going along for the ride or Well me, actually, with you going along for the ride.  It is supposed to mean something 50-50, but there is a lot of variation. A lot of mischief can be hidden here. Given his previous speeches, I am thinking that it's not intended to be clear, it just sounds nice.

3 comments:

  1. I checked Obama's inaugural speeches. He had 2 and 3 instances of the pronoun "I." Rather like Trump.

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  2. I checked Obama's inaugural speeches. He had 2 and 3 instances of the pronoun "I." Rather like Trump.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The nurse's "we." Would we like our catheter changed now?

    ReplyDelete