Dear Reader,
When people say “I never would have thought that!” they usually mean that the thought never occurred to them or that there was nothing they could think of which would have caused the thought to occur. Thus, they use this expression when they hear or discover something which surprises them. Also, people would say things like “I would have never believed it.” This is after they’ve found out that something, which they didn’t or couldn’t believe, turned out to be actually true. I would like you to consider another explanation for why you would never think of certain things or why you are unable to believe things which are true.
As conversations about Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) have brought about many new ideas, we want to think about these ideas and we also want to believe in these new possibilities, because thinking and believing in the SVB/NVB distinction has wonderful implications. We can’t help but notice that we have now accumulated a knowledge which nobody knows about or has access to. There is no way anymore in which we can avoid the realization that it is up to us, as we are the only ones who know. Moreover, we are right about what we know. We know that we know that we know something which others absolutely don’t know.
Being right always comes with great responsibility as we cannot undo what we really know. We can only go further with it, knowing that we are someone who is fully conscious about how it works. This realization confront us with our fears about being right; the fact that we are right makes us see that everyone is wrong. However, we are right not because we have SVB and they aren’t wrong because they have NVB, but we are right because we can see what is what and they can’t.
Although those who are ignorant about the SVB/NVB distinction can and will reject us who know about it, they can’t affect our knowledge. As a matter of fact, our knowledge is strengthened from all this rejection. We certainly can and do affect those who don’t know about the SVB/NVB distinction, although it doesn’t really matter for us whether we chose to do so or not. We may for various reasons stay with those who are unaware about the SVB/NVB distinction or we may at some point decide to leave them, but no matter whether we stay or leave, we leave them anyway as our knowledge can’t be stopped from expanding.
We know what we know and this knowledge is such that nobody can put us under their control anymore. We don’t have any obligation to change them, to help them or to suffer because of them as we have already done that and we know we are not going to do that again. We know that we know that we know that they don’t know. Nobody else can know for us. Although we share what we know with others, who, like us, know what is true, we remain independent and are aware about the taboo of claiming our knowledge. We, who have acquired this precious knowledge, are very different and we are each going our own unique way with SVB. Our certainty about the future is that it will be exciting, fulfilling, stimulating and novel.
Dear Reader,
Of all the people, it is, of course, the behaviorist, who ought to be able to understand, acknowledge, and, most importantly, explain, that our more and more polarized, destructive, political discourse is a result of environmental variables which are not discussed by anyone. The reason that nobody is capable of analyzing today’s politicization of just about any topic is that we fail to acknowledge that it has to do with our way of speaking. Due to the feedback which is provided by our social media, our way of talking can no longer be hidden or diverted away from.
When people say “I never would have thought that!” they usually mean that the thought never occurred to them or that there was nothing they could think of which would have caused the thought to occur. Thus, they use this expression when they hear or discover something which surprises them. Also, people would say things like “I would have never believed it.” This is after they’ve found out that something, which they didn’t or couldn’t believe, turned out to be actually true. I would like you to consider another explanation for why you would never think of certain things or why you are unable to believe things which are true.
As conversations about Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) have brought about many new ideas, we want to think about these ideas and we also want to believe in these new possibilities, because thinking and believing in the SVB/NVB distinction has wonderful implications. We can’t help but notice that we have now accumulated a knowledge which nobody knows about or has access to. There is no way anymore in which we can avoid the realization that it is up to us, as we are the only ones who know. Moreover, we are right about what we know. We know that we know that we know something which others absolutely don’t know.
Being right always comes with great responsibility as we cannot undo what we really know. We can only go further with it, knowing that we are someone who is fully conscious about how it works. This realization confront us with our fears about being right; the fact that we are right makes us see that everyone is wrong. However, we are right not because we have SVB and they aren’t wrong because they have NVB, but we are right because we can see what is what and they can’t.
Although those who are ignorant about the SVB/NVB distinction can and will reject us who know about it, they can’t affect our knowledge. As a matter of fact, our knowledge is strengthened from all this rejection. We certainly can and do affect those who don’t know about the SVB/NVB distinction, although it doesn’t really matter for us whether we chose to do so or not. We may for various reasons stay with those who are unaware about the SVB/NVB distinction or we may at some point decide to leave them, but no matter whether we stay or leave, we leave them anyway as our knowledge can’t be stopped from expanding.
We know what we know and this knowledge is such that nobody can put us under their control anymore. We don’t have any obligation to change them, to help them or to suffer because of them as we have already done that and we know we are not going to do that again. We know that we know that we know that they don’t know. Nobody else can know for us. Although we share what we know with others, who, like us, know what is true, we remain independent and are aware about the taboo of claiming our knowledge. We, who have acquired this precious knowledge, are very different and we are each going our own unique way with SVB. Our certainty about the future is that it will be exciting, fulfilling, stimulating and novel.
Dear Reader,
Of all the people, it is, of course, the behaviorist, who ought to be able to understand, acknowledge, and, most importantly, explain, that our more and more polarized, destructive, political discourse is a result of environmental variables which are not discussed by anyone. The reason that nobody is capable of analyzing today’s politicization of just about any topic is that we fail to acknowledge that it has to do with our way of speaking. Due to the feedback which is provided by our social media, our way of talking can no longer be hidden or diverted away from.
Everyday our horrid Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is visible and
audible, but yet we haven’t been able to do anything about it as we
refuse to trace its origins to the environments from which it emerges.
Since we are all fighting and arguing with each other it should be
obvious that we are either finding ourselves in hostile environments
which inevitably elicit our current NVB or we express such high rates of
NVB since we have for so long been in and endured and survived such
aversive, threatening environments. Most likely it is a combination of
both.
Once we recognize the difference between NVB and Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) there is no escaping from the profoundly troubling notion that SVB is, for the most part, made impossible, and, therefore, only occurring at a very low response rate. Yet, this natural way of talking in which communicators are at peace with each other is essential to relationship and to the way in which we bring order in society. Those who promote fabricated advantages of NVB would consider the possibility of SVB as idealistic, as they lack the necessary skills to teach it to others.
SVB is NOT as superficial as merely trying to talk nice to each other. The issue of trying to be nice indicates we presumably have to overcome some tendency of not being nice. Similarly, we are also told to have more respect, to be more open, to be more empathic and to be less judgmental, less violent, less impatient. Where are the knowledgeable behavior analysts, who would be capable of saying that we are only told to be all these things, which never seem to get accomplished, while we are involved in NVB? The fact is, they don’t exist as they have yet to learn about the SVB/NVB distinction. Had they learned about this distinction, they would have known that safety and comfort are absolutely necessary for SVB as well for learning any other proper social behavior. Rather than being political, rather than participating in and reinforcing NVB, they would have advocated for the science of human behavior by promoting SVB.
Once we recognize the difference between NVB and Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) there is no escaping from the profoundly troubling notion that SVB is, for the most part, made impossible, and, therefore, only occurring at a very low response rate. Yet, this natural way of talking in which communicators are at peace with each other is essential to relationship and to the way in which we bring order in society. Those who promote fabricated advantages of NVB would consider the possibility of SVB as idealistic, as they lack the necessary skills to teach it to others.
SVB is NOT as superficial as merely trying to talk nice to each other. The issue of trying to be nice indicates we presumably have to overcome some tendency of not being nice. Similarly, we are also told to have more respect, to be more open, to be more empathic and to be less judgmental, less violent, less impatient. Where are the knowledgeable behavior analysts, who would be capable of saying that we are only told to be all these things, which never seem to get accomplished, while we are involved in NVB? The fact is, they don’t exist as they have yet to learn about the SVB/NVB distinction. Had they learned about this distinction, they would have known that safety and comfort are absolutely necessary for SVB as well for learning any other proper social behavior. Rather than being political, rather than participating in and reinforcing NVB, they would have advocated for the science of human behavior by promoting SVB.
No comments:
Post a Comment