Spreading the Word - A Docuseries

From my text messages with Oliver Moore

What is this?

Spreading the Word is a documentary series I'm working on right now, where I'm trying to create a word from scratch and then popularize it.

Why?

Language is a profound thing. It impacts us every moment. It is expression. It is what makes us human. It is what facilitates connection. Language isn’t just verbal or written words, it’s film, music, etc. In addition to being a conduit for expression, language shapes our ability to think. If there’s not a word for an idea, it doesn’t get expressed - like in 1984.

Through the creation of a word, I hope to explore many themes relating to language. Firstly, perspective. Is one perspective enough? If one person believes that a word is a word - me, is that enough?

Secondly, language is the gateway to performance. Language is an abstraction of reality, although it too is a part of reality. As soon as you assign an abstract identifier to the experience of the present moment, it is already something different. Like if I say "I'm sad", the word "sad" is not enough to fully express the experience of sadness. There's a gap. It's like in calculus – with Riemann sums.

Riemann sum - Wikipedia — The function represents a human experience, and the rectangles underneath the function represent language. The area under the curve is never fully expressed by the rectangles, just like how language can never fully express a human experience – though it can get close.

Often we intentionally create this separation between expressed language and true experience; namely, when we lie. The documentary will therefore explore the divergence between language and truth, and how we manipulate this divergence – basically, the lines between reality and fiction will be blurred.

Thirdly, I want to explore the human will. We use language to label our will - or give it direction. I want to see how far my will to spread a word will take me. Starting grassroots, in real life, talking to real people. Gaslighting people into believing my word is real. Placing pages with my word in them into dictionaries in the library. Setting up fliers, making pamphlets. Then, I'll use social media, and try to create some sort of trend to spread my word. I'll manipulate the fact that we're 6 connections away from anybody to try to spread the word as much as I can.

How are you going to do this?

I'm going to have several episodes in this docuseries. Episode 1 will be about me brainstorming the word, defeating my social anxiety through exposure therapy, talking to linguists, and eventually deciding on a word to spread. Episode 2 will be about me actually spreading the word in person. Gaslighting random people into using the word, sneaking pamphlets into the library advertising the word, etc. Future episodes will be about me using social media and the 6 connections theory to my advantage.

A lot of my Mind Straws will be dedicated to this project. Finished episodes will be published on my social media.