In a stroke of ironic genius, Voltaire once quipped, “A witty saying proves nothing.”  In a short and witty phrase, Voltaire condemns short and witty phrases.  I don’t think that even he could have foreseen the full applicability of his words to the present day “sound byte” culture.

It seems that the primary means the media uses to engage culture as a whole is though truncating a complete thought into a catchy package that worms its way into your memory.  Unsupported by design, its power lies in the inferences and associations that are often completely implicit from the beginning.

Some of our greatest and most important conversations and systems are decided upon the battlefield of cultural memes and sounds.  Politically, elections are won and lost upon a clip that is played and replayed ad infinitum … perhaps more ad nauseam.  Howard Dean’s rallying scream was part of his loss of candidacy in the 2000 election.  Obama’s simple calls for “Hope,” “Change,” and “Yes we can” still carry emotional and connotational weight here at my college campus.  Politically, the tagline of your platform seems to be more important than the actual content.

In the business realm, advertising is used to create associations with products, not to actually describe them.  The best commercials are the ones that leave us with a feeling that we think we can recall by the purchase and consumption of a product, be it shampoo, beer, or a type of car.  How many commercial phrases can you finish before the ad ends?  What does that mean for our society when we relate our intellectual pursuits and even aspects of our humor around what we are told in 30-second ad spots? (As a short pet-peeve alert, quoting a commercial tagline as part of a joke or in an effort to be witty is by and large not a way to actually be funny.)

Even our supposed use of free speech on important issues of cultural discord is often in the realm of sound bytes.  Just to be real here, I don’t think there has been anyone who changed their mind because of a bumper-sticker.  You can say whatever you like, but if it is said in a way that decreases the communicative value of your words while simultaneously alienating potential audiences, it isn’t that useful.  Trying to find truth by placing two short phrases next to each other, without actually engaging the underlying ideas and warrants, is ineffective in a way that approaches the realm of complete uselessness.

The biggest problem, however, is when these tendencies to condense ideas into quotations are applied on a personal level.  The danger comes when quotes, short platitudes, sayings, phrases, and particular clichés are collected and enshrined as a replacement for thought. If the only means that we have to communicate is through the same recycled and reused strings of words, then we are not really communicating anything worth hearing.  Quotes can engender thought … but ought to never replace it.

Try saying something true in a way that is unique.  Try communicating in a way that isn’t trite and cliché.  Say something different.  I think that’s one of the best ways to show that you care about ideas and the people with whom you are talking.

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