YOUR TONGUE IS A VANDAL - Alexander Chung

Make your contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

Alexander ChungYOUR TONGUE IS A

VANDAL

The tongue is the most treacherous organ

It’s constantly disobeying orders

And it gets away with so damn much

Imagine the social damage that a Freudian slip of the bladder would cause.

All we want from our tongues is cooperation A reliable partner that allows

thoughts to leave the body gracefully

But all we get is

unruliness

We’ve tried so hard to contain our tongues Some bite lips, while others prefer the muffling effect of socks

But, what are we holding back?

What if we gave the

tongue more opportunities to explore its rouge side?

An opportunity to be uncooperative.

An opportunity to “rock out like you’ve

been paid to disturb the peace.”

Anis Mojgani

Should every conversation unravel like

a thread on 4Chan? No

But, there are ways we can modify the ‘cooperative principle’

Make your contribution such as it is

required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged

“”

Paul Grice

There are ways to subvert the accepted purpose of a conversation or the intended

meaning of a person’s words

ALEXANDER CHUNG

Debates are perfect examples

ALEXANDER CHUNG

I listened carefully to the debate:

“The Catholic church is force for good.”

ALEXANDER CHUNG

I was most compelled when a speaker

served an opponent’s point back to them

after defacing it with some light graffiti

I visualized a few examples

ALEXANDER CHUNG

26% of health institutions

that treat HIV are run by

the Catholic church

John Onayekan

ALEXANDER CHUNG

View of the church as

dominated by hierarchy.

a clutch

ALEXANDER CHUNG

It’s a severe crisis We need to

apply the most loving pastoral care

ALEXANDER CHUNG

It’s a severe crisis We need to

apply the most loving pastoral care

to these victims

“

I’m sorry, haven’t they already had that?

Christopher Hitchens

In all these examples, it’s clear how the

speaker uses an idea against itself

Kind of like that guy who fucks with the

subway ads

Some hypotheses

Good vandals are ironic

Whether debaters or culture jammers

Good tongues are not held back by bitten lips but, rather, placed firmly in cheek.

Good communication environments treat vandalism as sense making not insolence

Good conversation is not about saying the

right or ‘nice’ thing

Good decks shouldn’t need further explanation

But then again,

interesting things

happen when ideas are

lost in translation