Roscoe is one of those children who works hard at staying just on the right side of the rules.  So when he was a slip of a boy I became concerned about the amount of his school mates who apparently were using the  ‘F word”.  Upon some gentle probing, it turned out that in the world of Roscoe this word was “idiot”.

Years later and still trying to inspire him to read books and so improve his command of the  English language, as well as laugh through my speech therapy, we devise a game to only be played with all the windows up in the car; to go through the alphabet and shout at the top of our voices all the profanities we know that begin with that particular letter.  What a stress relief, and so much fun, as all the naughty words that would never normally be spoken are expressed joyfully and with impunity.

He knows these words are not to be used in everyday conversation but it seems to be a right of passage of teenagedom to ‘talk dirty’ in front of your friends.  I stand on the cliff top this evening watching him learn to surf with a bunch of school friends and the winds carry a clear bell tone of colour which causes an inward wince. Occasionally, he will use a colloquialism for a body part or sexual act and always I try to ignore it, so the word loses its power.

For words are powerful, and used often enough they gradually become part of the lexicon.  So I am not surprised to see the chants of ‘Fake News’ against some of our media outlets in the UK.  The concept has taken hold.  But I’m shocked that Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC political editor, has to bring a close protection bodyguard so she can do her job and report from the British Labour Party conference.  Since when can reporting and often repeating the words being used at party political conferences create such hatred as to incite serious death threats?  What is happening to our democracy?

I’m guessing the same factions are responsible for hateful banners spewing slogans such as ‘Hang the Tories’ and for the need for police cordons and tear gas due to the violent demonstrations at the Conservative Party conference last week.

I am no fan of either political persuasion and have no affinity for any political party, preferring to vote at the time for those who I think will be best for our country and democracy in the following 5 years.  I’ve never slavishly followed a pop band, artist or team to the extent that I lose common sense or a broader belief in the good of humanity.  But the words and rhetoric being used by people, often those in positions of power and authority,  and then regurgitated across the slew of social media channels is starting to shift many peoples’ perceptions of common decency.  What is interesting is this language – its pattern, tone and style – belongs in the playground where children call each other idiots.

All good communicators know it’s harder to write headlines for the Redtops than the Broadsheets, to appeal to the working man as well as his middle manager. But it’s a lazy communicator who chooses to appeal just to the masses, as the herd mentality will never create a long-term sustainable solution; they become too preoccupied with belonging.  Great ideas and solutions come from thinking differently and speaking out; even if people disagree with a decision or view, if it’s explained well and understood, there is a better chance of bringing people together and of their working for the greater good.  Understanding your audience and communicating thoughts and ideas to those who may not be of your political persuasion, education or social class is a real skill.  Done well, it can shift thinking and perception.

But the audience itself has to be prepared to listen; communication is a two-way dialogue.  Currently there seems to be a shift away from informed arguments using a wide array of language and proper terminology towards  a style of populist simplified language and discourse.  Trump is a fabulous example of this.  The educated classes snigger about “bigly”, “believe me”, “sad”  and the corresponding staccato short sentences and rambling colloquial speeches.  But love him or loathe him, he connects.  The American heartland have someone they believe represents them.  Contrast this with the oratory power of Tony Blair who before Iraq was considered to be one of our more persuasive statesmen.  He puts forward a very reasoned argument for remaining in the European Union but his way of communicating his thoughts and ideas – correct terminology,  longer sentence length, and elegant phrasing of concepts and ideas,  the very patterns of his speech demonstrate his knowledge and experience yet makes him sound out of touch with populist sentiment.

The world has become smaller with the use of the smartphone.  Twitter often shares breaking news faster than the news wires, 240 characters of information or 2 minutes of video hits screens around the world as events happen.  The audience begins to accept this is how they consume their news.  They begin to believe that they don’t t have time to sit and read a long explanation of facts, detail and informed opinion.  And when the 24 hour news channels churn out yet another panel of never heard of before ‘experts’, how many of the audience switch off their listening capacity?

But this can be dangerous when you are trying to educate and connect with big concepts – Brexit; foreign policy relations with North Korea; Middle East politics; GDP deficits; economic drift; gun control; the need to change prime ministers and presidents; big business versus the European Union…

These are concepts and issues which require reasoned thinking, strong debate and informed intellect,  They require a balanced tone of voice and language accessible enough for all to understand.  They require credible voices not populist rhetoric and sound bites.

The combination of social media, smart phone usage, Trump and an increasing proliferation of 3 minute sound bite reporting, is beginning to change our language and our tolerance for listening to and considering alternative arguments.  News reports, satirical TV shows, social media updates are becoming simplified, more partisan, more divisive.  And every news report which contains obvious bias weakens our democracy and the opportunities to raise our children to think beyond narrow confines.  Rich, informed and expressive discourse does much more than convey a story – it sets a tone, provides a social structure and enables a sense of belonging while allowing healthy division and debate.

Guarding our democracy and the right to informed free thinking and speech is what our grandparents and great grandparents fought for.  It is woven into the very fabric of our modern-day life.  So let’s stay away from indifference, divisive language and belittlement.   The language we choose to speak, the language we choose to listen to, the language we chose to emulate and pass on is  our responsibility,  Let’s not leave it to others to shape our society and the world view,

Let’s not be idiots.