I was writing about something called “a verbal monologue of thoughts,” when I read, yesterday, the second article in Daily Post editor Bill Hudson’s “The Weight of Water,” editorial series.
There’s a paragraph, in Mr. Hudson’s editorial, quoting from a 2010 issue of The Pagosa Post magazine — the town’s monthly magazine, back then — mentioning:
…secret land deals, disastrous debt, and a (PAWSD) Board whose communication with the taxpayers is a manipulative mix of ‘Saying Anything’ and ‘Saying Nothing’…
A verbal monologue of thoughts, I’d learned, in Wikipedia, seems to be another way of describing one’s inner thoughts, that voice in our heads that’s broadcasting all sorts of thoughts, feelings and emotions… almost like a play-by-play announcer’s commentary during a baseball game. Maybe that’s where manipulative mixes of saying anything and nothing might be getting hatched, so to speak… somewhere in someone’s verbal monologue of thoughts?
What if we could tune into those thoughts, about the same as adjusting a radio dial?
Wouldn’t that be enlightening, and maybe amusing, or quite chilling?
Imagine, when some official, having to field a challenging question from someone in the audience, has some vapid reply, like… “Thanks for asking, that’s a great question,” and then goes on, saying anything and nothing. But imagine, in the meantime, folks in the audience, tuning into the official’s innermost, verbal monologue, are hearing the official’s actual, unvarnished thoughts.
Hearing politicians voicing their strong, unwavering religious beliefs, got me wondering about what might be lurking in their innermost thoughts. We can only imagine, since various politicians, in Congress and the Senate, out in Washington, may be among some of the ‘best’ at saying anything and nothing.
What this all reminds me of, is a habit one of my aunts had, when she was greeting someone. She’d often ask, ‘How’s everything,’ and ‘What do you know?’ That was her way of catching up with relatives and friends.
What do we ever know, for sure?… considering that manipulative mix mentioned in a vintage edition of the Pagosa Post?
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.