Quote:
Originally posted by sixate
Words do matter, but I'm a firm believer that actions speak louder than words. I know that verbally I'm probably more harsh than anyone hat I've ever known. I don't hand anyone a load of crap and never will. I'm a straight shooter and respect people who are the same way. Whether people want to believe it or not, just because I don't agree with someone's opinion that doesn't mean that I dislike them or that they should think as I do. We're all different and we all have different ways of keeping ourselves happy, and that's just the way things are. We all have different ways of communicating... Some people are more sensitive than others, and I often, more like always, look past that because I never let anyones opinions piss me off. It's peoples actions that piss me off.... Most people can bullshit their way into making someone think they are someone that they are not, but their actions will always outweigh their words.
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Maybe in real life this is true, but I don't think you can necessarily split things up into a hierarchy like this - actions > words. If, say, (purely hypothetical) someone goes around spewing thoughtless and somewhat hateful things about black people, but stops to help a stranded black motorist and gives money to the NAACP, it's not like the actions negate the words. They're independent events - the person has spread malicious ideas, which will have whatever effect they have, and the person has helped people, which will have whatever effect those actions have. If I was looking at that person and judging them at the end of their life, I might say one outweighed the other, but it's not like one causes the other to lose its effect.
And I know not everyone agrees, but I believe that words are symbolic action, if for no other reason than that they create the atmosphere we live in, and because communication is so central to who human beings are. If you want to look at it really simplistically, language -> thoughts -> actions, but the language in itself is enough action to create a particular reality.
Add to that the fact that on the internet words are all we have, and they become even more important.
I don't want to stifle expression.
I don't want to create a "culture of nice" where we all have to agree and talk politically correctly.
I just want people to be aware that...well, words do matter.