Volver the Cat and Emoticons

Volver is our cat. We talk to him all the time and he understands us. When he is scratching the furniture and we say NO, he stops scratching. When it’s time to eat, we say PAPPA* and he comes running. When he snuggles next to us and we say WE LOVE YOU, he purrs. (*pap)

Once upon a time, humans were like Volver. They didn’t need to know the meaning of words in order to communicate.

More complex than verbal communication, non-verbal communication is somewhat telepathic and uses body language, eye contact, and, above all, empathy. Once upon a time we used much more non-verbal communication but when demographics drastically changed, standardized communication was needed. Words replaced sensation. And, instead of integrating one form of communication with the other, the verbal mode of thinking completely took over.

Not too long ago, I was feeling a bit stressed and went to a wine bar near my studio to mellow out. The place was packed. I looked around for an empty table and, not finding one, decided to leave. A man sitting near the door made a gesture with his hand indicating the empty chair next to him. It was an obvious invitation to sit down. The man, old but not elderly, had a pleasant face and seemed perfectly harmless. So I accepted his offer.

He told me his name was Leonard and that he’d given up being a surgeon to write books. A storyteller, his books sometimes put scholars on the spin cycle. His theories regarding the written word, for example, had created a lot of polemics.

According to Leonard, the invention of writing rewired the human brain. It created a society dominated by left-brain mentality typical of men. That is, the abstract substituted the actual. As a result, the holistic and iconic feminine right-brain was put into limbo. The word was preferred to the image. Goddesses were substituted with a patriarchal monotheism that totally obliterated the female principle. Thanks to the written word, said Leonard, the misogynist manipulators had stigmatized the role of women in society.

Recently I decided to use homemade emoticons/emoji for Facebook commentary for two reasons. For one, I don’t like being transformed into part of a social engineering algorithm (as posted about HERE). Secondly, the written word has a rigidity to it that the image doesn’t have. And, if you use any kind of social media, you need to protect your bio-rhythms from people out there desperate to externalize their anger and frustration.

Instead of word ping pong, why not use some emoticons/emoji of your own? Not interpreted in the same way as words, images can intrude upon verbal thinking which will frustrate troll-like thinkers. I mean, how can you fight with an emoticon?

Meaning and words are not necessarily synonymous.