Talking with the spirits

                 Conversations with the disembodied

        Whenever you start off an article like this, people roll their eyes and say “Oh, boy. Here we go! “But, you can relax. I don’t mean spirits of the ghostly variety. Rather, I am talking about the on-line exchanges with friends, family and acquaintances that transpires in the daily commerce of our lives.

        I have always found it fascinating to have these exchanges. In real life, facial expressions, “body English,” acoustical pitch and other character traits supply visual and auditory context, when we speak with others. Much of the import of our communication is communicated by these variables.

       “Online speech” is a different phenomenon. You see the words, in the computer LCD, and interpret their meaning, in a literal sense, and then reply to them. Like everything else in life, it becomes the norm. I have found though that there is indeed a unique persona within the non-corporeal speech. People, that you have known for ages, leave a verbal imprint in their communications that is recognizable. Writers call it a point of view, that is readily discernable to those who know you. I suppose there is an unconscious rhythm to our speech. In school, they always taught us that we speak in iambic pentameter. It is a rhythm of stressing certain syllables, in our speech, that is recognizable to others. But, even though I have oft seen this diagrammed, I could never quite figure out what it really means. I suppose, unconsciously, we just talk in a certain manner. I know that here in the South, there is a discernable pattern of saying certain words, like “insurance.” The stress on the first syllable, as opposed to northern speech that stresses the last syllable. Perhaps this is what they mean.

    I can detect anomalies like this in the communications from people with whom I often correspond. It is sort of eerie at first, talking with people in non-corporeal form. We all do have our rhythms. In all of the old war movies, radio operators claim that they can tell “the hand” of certain Morse Code senders by the rhythm of the Morse code taps. I suppose that is the same sort of thing.

       I do find it fascinating to talk with others, mind to mind so to speak. The “speech” is more direct and lacks the coyness of interpersonal communication. And I find that refreshing. In some, sincerity reflects what you know of their corporeal personality. Sincere, decent people come across to me that way, in whatever manner they communicate. And of course, a blow hard is a blow hard in whatever manner they send forth their ideas.

      I see, in the online responses to newspaper articles, a darker side, especially when anonymity is guaranteed. The “mask” of anonymity seems to release a malodorous venom in some, a pattern of speech that they would not employ were they identified as the speaker. I always wondered what this is all about? Is that nastiness really the hidden persona? Do the monsters of the Id really lie in wait within all of us, dormant until anger of adversity draws out the venom. I sure as heck hope hot. 

     The popular idiom is “in vino veritas.” (in wine there is truth) That sure as heck rings true to me. After all of the gin mills I have inhabited, I have heard a boat load of unvarnished and not so kind comments about everything under the sun. I would guess that these comments are similar to those of the anonymous printed ones. People really are much more complicated that any of us suppose. And they rarely reveal themselves to anyone but close family and friends.

     Still, incorporeal speech can bring a smile to your face, when a favorite friend or family members “speaks” on line. The warmth, the companionship and just plain decency of that favored person shines through their written words. It resonates in your mind like a ray of warm sunshine or a gentle breeze that cools us on a warm day. Some folks just do that to you because that is who and what they are, bless themJ

      That is enough reflective musing for me at this very early hour of the morning. That brings up another phenomenon. Sometimes on line, it feels like you are talking to yourself. That is indeed odd as well. Were you to do so in the company of others, they would probably wheel you off to the booby hatch in short order. On line, it is acceptable.

     It will be a while before my unabbreviated, “incorporeal voice” will grace these boards again. Even writing in long hand carries different nuances in our expressions. In any case, I have much enjoyed the dialogue that I have with others on line and have often marveled at how good and decent people really are. Talk to y’all in a bit.

                                          -30-

                                  (814 words)

                              Joseph Xavier Martin