October 28, 2014

October 28, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

Every day we now hear reports about the deadly Ebola virus. Like nothing else, this issue puts the conflict between those who know about science and those who don’t on the table. One can hear on TV how medical experts are trying to talk calmly, while news reporters yank them around with frightening hyped-up scenarios. This context provides a good illustration of Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). One would hope that the cooler SVB heads prevail, but given the nefarious NVB reality we live in, it remains to be seen if educated medical personnel will be able to prevent the spread of Ebola in the United States. It was mentioned on the news that some possibly infected nurse, who had returned from working with Ebola victims, had now gone in hiding.

Those who are involved in NVB hide the fact that they don’t communicate. They are able to spread and perpetuate their falsehoods and their fabrications, because only a scientific account of how we communicate can stop them in their tracks. In absence of the knowledge about what is required to have SVB, we are unable to have it. It is like that with health as well. Without the necessary conditions to be healthy and without the knowledge about how to create these conditions, we will be unable to maintain our health and we are bound to make unhealthy decisions. 

To have SVB, it is needed that we communicate., but as we are conditioned by NVB, we don’t know what we are missing. We believe that we communicate, but we push each other around. We can begin to communicate by acknowledging that NVB is not communication. It is just like saying that Ebola is not caused by evil spirits. Effective treatment depends on scientific understanding of how to stop this virus, but superstition is not going help. NVB is not going to help and has never helped us. It has prevented us from solving our problems and it has only made our problems worse. Moreover, as SVB is going to eventually eradicate NVB, in the same way that science is going to eradicate Ebola virus, the superstitions that prevent this must be addressed and dissolved. SVB is the communication of health.