We throw them to the winds; <br />like water from a shower; <br />what wind? what shower? and who throws them to whom? <br /> <br />In 1996, John Bargh, with scrupulous research, <br />found that, hearing words about the elderly – <br />even when flashed subliminally on the screen – <br />makes us walk more slowly…you kidding? No… <br /> <br />and in 1998, Dijksterhuis and Van Knippenberg <br />showed that if we hear words about ‘professors’ <br />we’re smarter playing Trivial Pursuits; <br /> <br />while hearing words about sports hooligans <br />makes us dumber… <br /> <br />and this without referring to the images and sounds <br />of crime, guns, killing, and computer games… <br />ah well, we identify with those glamorous criminals <br />and then are shown that justice always prevails – <br />er, doesn’t it? …but what of those satisfying PC games <br />where, zap! we always gun them down… <br />oh, it’s all harmless play; like Shakespeare’s gods, <br />‘we kill them for our sport’… <br /> <br />words mean what they do; <br />science has warned us when all else has failed. <br />Good mortals all, be of fine heart, and hale…<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/words-mean-what-they-do/
