Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Language, culture, and thought

Language not only shapes culture, it shapes thought. The Irish thought differently before they were forced to learn English. Native Americans thought differently before they had the "Injun" beat out of them by reservation-school teachers. There is a unity between a people and their culture, their language, and their thoughts. Things only break apart and come undone when people are forced to live as isolated, alienated atoms inside this rootless, pointless, cosmopolitan monstrosity we call "modernity."