DISTORTIONS ALERT

The ability to twist and distort language so that you can construct new ideas and concepts holds the power to create exceedingly inventive things that can make life a hundred times better and the power to invent things that make life a living hell. It is the same power either way. This means that language can be used for both good and evil. It means that language can go far beyond merely representing what is there and doing so with accuracy and precision. You and I can use language that invents concepts that do not exist naturally in the world.

Welcome to the realm of distortions! Nominalizations distort things by turning verbs into nouns. Mind-reading distorts things by second-guessing what another person is thinking, feeling, or intending. Cause-effect constructs “causation” out of correlation or out of nothing. Complex equivalence makes two things the same which are not, and presuppositions constructs premises and then hides them in assumptive frames.