Living in a foreign country and switching constantly between two languages, some days my mind gets so tired that it indulges in the comfort of surface-vocabulary.
It’s easier to say that “I’m sad” instead of digging to find out what term would provide an accurate description of how I feel.
Similarly, it’s simple to say that I’m “left” or “right”, or that something is “right” or “wrong”, “good” or “bad”.
I have been thinking about the words that polarise and limit my experience. There is a risk that lies behind the temptation of an effortless language. Vocabularies that divide the world up into big categories have the power to exacerbate blindness and polarisation, hate and extremism.
I want to be pickier about the words I use. I want to broaden my English vocabulary in order to truly grasp nuances in the world around me and within me.
This is the first one of a series of posters ‘against binary thinking’. I thought it could be an interesting exercise to share with others.
© Silvia Lazzaris
Silvia Lazzaris 