January 22, 2014

January 22, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

Today’s letter type is “Californian.” It was chosen to end this author’s exploration of how his writing is affected by a different letter types. This author lives in California. By choosing this letter type, he brings his writing under  discriminative control of the place where he  now resides, Chico. Where one lives is one’s environment. As a child, this author used to sum up the expanded version of where he was. While lying in bed at night, he would think of his room, in a house, in a street, in a town, in a province, in a country, on a continent, on the planet earth, in our part of the universe called the Milky Way.  As he grew older, he extended his way of locating himself with what he came to know or came to believe about himself. His view of himself was shaped by his family: his religious,  forceful father, who beat and humiliated him; his emotional, caring mother, who was often overwhelmed; his younger brother, who was hostile and wanted to beat him;  his youngest brother, who was rude towards him; his oldest sister, who betrayed him; his older sister, who abandoned him; his uncle, who was an actor, who made him feel special; his other uncle who was a salesman, who was nice, but childish; his uncle, who was a manager at a cigarette factory, who was angry; his aunt, who talked loudly and gave wet kisses; his aunt, who was arrogant and phony; his aunt, who was deaf and could read lips; his aunt, who smoked like a chimney and couched really badly; his aunt, who was sickly and demanding;  his grandmother from his mother’s side, whom he loved so very much; his grandmother from his father’s side, who taught him that stealing was wrong; his one-eyed grandfather from his father’s side, who died when he was young; his grandfather from his mother’s side, with whom he played soccer and the fed birds in the park. The author's behavior was shaped by his neighborhood, his adventure, his church, his school, his boy scout club, his soccer team, his fishing spots, his beach, his raft, his canal, his asthmatic bronchitis, his allergies, his winters, his summers, his autumns, his springs, his troubled teenage years, his early adolescent years during which he felt so rejected and lost, his dancing, his girlfriends, his flute, his friends with whom he tried to make sense of who he was, his jobs, his arguments, his travels, his return home, his dissatisfaction with his achievements, his search for truth, his disappointment in others and his loneliness.

January 21, 2014

January 21, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

Today’s letter type “Broadway” was chosen because the talking we are used to is cheap and superficial. Although it can be said to have some amusement value, its dissociating nature prevents change. Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) only widens the gap between saying and doing, but Sound Verbal Behavior closes it. 

The lack of correspondence between our beliefs and our actions is shaped and maintained by the way in which we talk. The remote link between what we say and do is very deliberate: our vagueness provides protection against accountability. Also, our rules and our laws, which presumably can’t and shouldn’t be changed, increase our dismal lack of action. Meanwhile, we talk NVB, not knowing that our way of communicating prevents us from addressing, let alone solve our problems. The actions that we take are escape behaviors, responses to aversive stimulation. 

SVB is possible and we all know it. Change is possible, but it can’t happen unless we stop getting carried away by our make- belief conversation. NVB is scripted acting, it is not real. Since it is a phantasy, the only action needed is one that sustains that phantasy. Obviously, if the only goal of our interaction is to maintain dreams, there is inevitably at some point going to be a harsh awakening. After the performance is over, we are in the cold on the street and nothing fancy is surrounding us. 

This is where reality sets in. We want to escape from this with another performance, by others or by ourselves and we want to keep believing that the show will never end, but SVB, authentic interaction, is the end of the show.  Now we can do what we have to do, what need to do. We didn’t do it, because we couldn’t. Our saying prevented our doing. Our saying undermined our doing. Our saying was disconnected from our doing. We didn’t know at all what we were doing. We didn’t know what we were saying. Nobody was listening and we were acting on automatic pilot. 

January 20, 2014

January 20, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader,

 

Today’s letter type is called “Bauhaus.” It was chosen because it has the word house in it. The literal translation of this German word would be “Built House.” This author likes that word and everything it stands for. This letter type is used today to reflect on the new house this author and his wife have moved into. The house is beautiful on the inside and on the outside. Yesterday we sat in the garden, from where the outside of the house could be admired. 

This author has found a new way of communicating which stands like a house. The foundation and the structure of Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) are solid and reliable. One can’t have SVB with one’s brother, but not with one’s sister, with one’s mother, but not with one’s father. SVB involves the whole family. As long as someone is excluded it is not SVB, but Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB).  NVB excludes, but SVB includes. SVB is a house for the whole family.  SVB is no ordinary house, it is a home. If we leave it, we leave our home. When we go into NVB, we are far away from home, 

If we come back to SVB, we come back home and we feel how much we have missed it. This realization occurs to all who have come to know SVB. One can’t come home, if one doesn’t keep building it. One has to always be willing to create it, because it requires speakers and listeners to create the house called SVB. If the speaker is absent, it can’t be created, if the listener is absent, it can’t be created. The presence of the listener is determined by the fact that the listener also speaks and the presence of the speaker is determined by the fact that the speaker also listens. If this doesn’t happen, we create NVB. In NVB, the speaker doesn’t listen. In NVB, the listener doesn’t speak. In NVB, the listener is only allowed to speak if he or she talks in a predetermined fashion. In NVB, the listener is given freedom of speech, the illusion that he or she may say something. In NVB, you may say whatever you like, but nobody is really listening. Thus, in NVB, nobody can really speak, because nobody is really listening. Because nobody is listening, we may imagine that god or the scientific community is listening, but we need other people to listen. In SVB, someone is always listening when you speak and is talking when you listen. 

January 19, 2014

January 19, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

Most of us, sometimes use a harmless word or an expression, such as a euphemism, in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest something unpleasant. For instance, we say “he passed away” instead of “he died”; “the situation is screwed up” instead of “fucked up.” Not many misunderstandings arise from this use of euphemisms. When we say “he isn’t the sharpest tool in the box”, we usually know he isn’t very good at solving problems. There are no problems when there is consensus and when we know what we are talking about. This is also where euphemisms become tricky, because although we may agree, or, rather, have been conditioned to agree, we may actually not agree at all, but without even knowing it. How can that be? 

During a shaping experiment in a laboratory the organism, for instance a pigeon, is immediately reinforced for even the slightest approximation to the target behavior. The pigeon is conditioned to have superstitious behavior. The pigeon operates on its environment and the lawfulness of behavior is extrapolated, which generalizes to all living organisms. Now we can finally recognize that a euphemism is merely an operant that is maintained by social reinforcement. Our correct use of language is shaped by our verbal community. However, social acceptance can make us support ideas which are deeply problematic. Let’s look at the term “Political Correctness” and explore how that term came about.

“Political Correctness” refers to ideas, language and politics, which were considered to be discriminating, because they were against politically, socially and economically disadvantaged groups. At some point, because people no longer agreed with the language that was used to describe them, it became obvious that a lot of political rhetoric had been very inhuman. What changed was the derogatory language, but although the language changed, the cover up of many injustices still continued. Euphemisms play a big role in how language hides the reality. The Right Wing uses “Political Correctness” in a hostile manner to describe the Left Wing, while both Left and Right Wing use “Political Incorrectness” as a positive self-description. 

Historically, “Politically Correctness” dates back to the early-to-mid 20^th century when in political debates between Communists and Socialists the term was used referring pejoratively to the Communist “party line”, which provided for “correct” positions on many matters of politics. What the use of this term indicates is that changing our language makes talking more difficult. It isn’t “Politically Correct” to talk about the fact that America continues to kill innocent families with drones. Calling these deaths “collateral damage” that result from “protecting our interests” undermines the public debate about what is actually done in our name. There would be immediate outrage if a foreign agent would murder our civilians. 

Use of euphemisms is an attempt to "speak good" and "to speak well", to praise and to glorify, but it never leads to Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). Euphemisms are a function of a deliberate make-belief way of talking. This author calls it Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). When our positive sayings hides our ugly reality, they only make things worse. Thus, "speaking good" or "speaking well" indicates that horrible things must be happening. Fact is, however, that we don’t speak good and that we don’t speak well, that is why we should speak good and should speak well. Who needs all this praise and glorification? In SVB the need for praise and glorification never arises. The need for praise and glorification distracts from the harm we are doing to others. Only in SVB we can have authentic communication because we do no harm.   

January 18, 2014

January 18, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

SVB posits that “speaking well by not speaking” is nonsense. The fact that historically many of those who had wished to speak were silenced by those who didn’t want them to, doesn’t mean that there is any value to not speaking. When nothing is said then nothing is said. Something can only be said if it is said. The issue of silence is highly overrated. It is mostly related to those who dominate instead of engage in the conversation. Their unwillingness to communicate is part of NVB. 

Although SVB communicators try to avoid NVB, they are never against communication. SVB is communication and NVB is not. If “speaking well by not speaking at all” was a euphemism dating back to ancient days then “holy” silence represents a lot of “not speaking well.” Blasphemism is supposedly always the opposite of euphemism, but if this “not speaking at all” is the highly regarded euphemism that prevents the blasphemism called speaking, then we find ourselves in a confusing, but no longer deniable world, in which “evil-speaking” may represent the solution to many of our problems. 

The notion that saying nothing is better than saying something and is labelled as “speaking well” indicates that a lot of things in human interaction are upside down. When those who stop the interaction are praised for their great wisdom, disengagement becomes a virtue. Those in power feel they don’t have to engage. They communicate only when they feel like it and with those with whom it is necessary. Most people are never listened to, because they are unnecessary. 

Encouraging speech, enabled by modern technology, is only a fairly recent event. When one wants to say something that goes against the verbal community to which one belongs, one usually maintains one’s peace of mind by not saying what isn’t accepted. Other more tolerant verbal communities may be found that acknowledge these expressions. If one can, one usually becomes part of another verbal community, which reinforces these expressions. However, this transition from one verbal community to another will be a frustrating matter as long the issue at hand is not properly understood. Most people don’t realize that in spite of changing communities (political, religious, national, language, etc) they have continued to engage in NVB.

The use of euphemisms is much less likely in SVB than in NVB. In SVB we laugh without restraint and we don’t take offense when someone is talking out of his ass and reverting to NVB. Because we can say it as it is and call a spade a spade, rather than using euphemisms, we are more likely to use blasphemisms. The use of euphemistic language to cover up the ugly reality of our human interaction prevents us from investigating and understanding of what these behaviors are actually a function. The anonymous verbal community seems to decide the proper language to be used, but again and again we repeat words that are put into our mouths without realizing how these words shape our behavior.

Rhetorical devices, such as euphemisms, once such a characteristic part of the interaction among human beings as living organisms, are now becoming obsolete. They may still appear from time to time, but they are out of date and out of use, like rusty old tools that were replaced by better ones. The incentive to use the new tool, which is called SVB, is a function of its comparison to our old NVB machinery.