The Human Condition: Performative language

By Daniel Schnee on November 16, 2022.

“Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.”

This quote attributed to music superstar Taylor Swift sounds like the kind of thing one might say to their Twitter followers; a daily affirmation to encourage and uplift. It is generally inspirational, until one learns it was not spoken by Swift but rather written down by Adolf Hitler in his autobiography, My Struggle (Mein Kampf).

In 2013 an internet troll photoshopped such Hitlerian quotes onto images of Swift, and the resulting memes were subsequently shared around the world by her fans, due to the words’ seemingly inspirational, pithy nature. Out of context, it would seem Swift is inspiring us to stand up for ourselves. But in context, what Hitler was doing was something else: making sinister exhortations that would eventually lead to the death of millions of people.

Thus is the power of language, more specifically the power of “performative” language. Informative language explains what things actually are, and reveals the reality in what we see. Performative language on the other hand seeks to shape perception, and construct the “reality” we like, no matter how false. Thus we like “Taylor Swift’s” inspirational quotes, but rightfully hate those of Adolf Hitler, though they are the exact same words. It is often a function of “group-think” as well: other Swift fans like/share something, so we are subconsciously compelled to do likewise (the opposite of critical thinking).

A worrying example of such a phenomenon was on display when Premier Danielle Smith recently stated she is not interested in taking any advice from experts, and plans to fire any/all directors of the AHS. In their place she plans to surround herself with a number of advisers, which would include prominent members of the anti-vaccine movement. Metaphorically it is as if Smith became the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, and is planning to put together a panel of Vancouver Canuck fans to advise her on how many goals to score whenever the two teams meet.

Smith’s plan to fire Dr. Deena Hinshaw for example (for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic) seems reasonable on the surface. But what Smith is actually trying to do is “fire” expertise itself: replace the complexities of medical research with a kind of facile “science” of opinion. That is not just ill-advised, it is life-threatening. Smith seeks a panel to tell her what she (ergo her followers) want to hear, and thus the painstaking effort to provide updated, incontrovertible evidence is thrown out the window for cheap demagoguery.

Thus I fear UCP health policies are increasingly becoming a fake Taylor Swift meme: cyanide masquerading as sugar. These may not be Mein Kampf levels of rhetoric we are dealing with here in Alberta. But we could be setting up for quite a struggle indeed if we don’t pay very careful attention to whatever performative language any of our leaders use.

To wit, letting our feelings define what is real would be very schlecht indeed…

Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist and jazz/rock drummer

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