Poor Gordon Brown. The way the election is going in the UK, it looks like the British Prime Minister’s recent gaffe over his calling a Grandma a bigoted woman might just cost him the election. Brown was visibly mortified, outwardly contrite, profusely apologetic and bent over backwards to convince the old age pensioner and the voters that he didn’t mean what he said, that he misunderstood and that he was actually quite a nice man who cared about his voters.
Of course in the realm of politics, words don’t really mean much. Politicians say a lot of things they mean or don’t mean, depending on the circumstances and don’t tend to apologize unless they really have a lot to lose. Even then they profess to be misunderstood, misquoted or didn’t really mean what they said even though it was obvious that they did mean it at the time they said it.
Thus it was only when his words were caught on tape and broadcast for the whole world to hear that Brown realized the full extent of what he did and that in this very close and fluid race for the British Premiership, he is in effect his own worst enemy. Brown was indeed sorry, but most likely a lot more sorry for himself rather than for the old woman whom he called a bigot seconds after he praised her for being a fine upstanding citizen when the TV camera rolled.
On her part, the woman felt sorry too, for the Prime Minister and the predicament he found himself in. Clearly he had a lot more to lose than she did. And no, she would not be voting for him or any other candidate. After all there is nothing more pitiful to watch than a leader revealing his true colours in public, especially if his character is less than perfect.
In any case, when it comes to integrity and honesty, politicians rank pretty low in the public general opinion. (Which, by the way, is also pretty true of the public’s perception on journalists, as we’re all in the business of peddling words and generating the most eye grabbing sound bites.) Political gaffes like that made by Brown could only reinforce the voters’ cynicism that at the end of the day their leaders care little about their real concerns.
Verbal blunders aside, however, it never ceases to amaze me how much words could influence the way we feel and how we judge a person. If a misplaced comment could generate controversy and cost a politician a heavy toll in the polls, conversely a well-written and impassioned speech could fire up the populace to optimism and even create heroes from nobodies.
We admire and remember great leaders for their great speeches and their inspiring words. We choose our leaders from the way they pick and use their words and how they spar with their opponents. We have confidence in the one who shows the greatest confidence and whose promises sound most like a genuine plan for action.
Even in a corporate setting we respect the bosses who could make us feel good about ourselves and where we work, and whose words are full of encouragement and wisdom. Often how we feel about our workplace depends also on how well our superiors and colleagues speak of us, how much we are praised, given motivation and pats on our backs.
There is a saying that goes ‘sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me,’ but if anything the opposite is true. Words are often a powerful and effective weapon in putting people down. For many of us our most satisfactory form of revenge against someone is when we speak badly about that person. Especially when that is the only weapon available to us. Nothing beats getting back at a horrible boss than badmouthing him behind his back.
At school and on the home front, a lot of the dynamics of our relationship also rest on how we relate to and talk to each other. We control each other through the gentle words of praise or harsh words of condemnation we dish out. We form hierarchies based on the effect that our spoken or unspoken words have on each other. Often our success depends on how well we manipulate others with our turns of phrase and the language we use. A lot of the time the baggage we carry with us into our adulthood comprise of the judgment and criticism our parents, teachers and peers heaped upon us.
However, our words could also prove to be our undoing. A carelessly spoken word, an opinion misconstrued or expressed without much thought could come back to haunt us or to make us feel stupid and bad about ourselves. Guilt and shame invariably follow words that are cruel and ill-thought.
And when your credibility lies in the public eye and ear, you cannot afford to be caught saying the wrong thing. It could very well be that the most memorable thing about the British election is not the campaigns and the debates, but the sight of Gordon Brown with his head in his hands, no doubt wishing he could take back his words.
(Desi Anwar: First published in Tempo English)
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form
