Moratorium on Speech (1)
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Index Entry
Fuller, R.B: Moratorium on Speech:
"The conditioned reflexes, they absolutely astonish me... because 50 years ago, I went into a speech moratorium so that when I made a sound I would know that I really meant to use that word. I saw that we--like parrots--could make sounds so easily.... How we can learn patterns and know absolutely the right way for school without really knowing anything. I think many of us got very good marks in school. If we are honest, we admit that we really don't know anything. I think it is very different from reasoning.
"So talking about conditioned reflexes, one person says a cliche and another person pops back with the appropriate other one. This sort of nonsense goes on. This was on my mind and I thought that I must shut off the proclivity in myself for that cliche or countercliche... and I must use words only because I intend to use the words... and obviously at that time I said all the blasphemy, and so forth... but it has actually no meaning. It would be impossible for any human being to be the son of a dog, or whatever it may be. It would be impossible to hold sexual intercourse with a grandmother who was no longer alive--so I said I was forever
Citations
- transcript pp.8-10, RBF taped interview with Dr. Michael Bruwer, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Chicago; 20 Feb'77
