1.3: Conscious Redefinition
Out of the Wilderness
Here, I conclude my series of posts on redefinition with a few reflections on the Tao of communicating through chaos.
Forces of chaos corrupt us by corrupting our language. Noticing these corruptions is a step toward conscious redefinition.
It’s important not to rush into redefinition as a “solution” to the crisis of trust. It’s essential to mourn our losses and become aware of the epidemiology of epistemic toxicity.
Conscious redefinition is a commitment to continually identify realities overdue for redefinition and to follow a rigorous process of negotiations to create and socialize superior definitions.
A fuller list of likely beneficiaries of this commitment would be too long for this post, so I’ll start with the demographics most relevant to The DEEL Studio:
FinTechs with timid messages that do not fully reflect the company’s role in the redefinition of money, banking, attention or whatever certitude the company is supplanting. Sure, there’s plenty of hype, but not enough focus on redefinition.
In-house PR teams struggling to align their metrics and processes with shifts in the media landscape.
Content strategists looking for ways to create genuinely expressive content under the tyranny of SEO and the call to action.
For these and many other demographics, redefinition is an essential tool and a weapon for a media ecology straining to metabolize multiple wars. Like the Jews of the Exodus story who found shelter from the plagues in the I-Thou relationships of their tribe, we can find shelter in the relational practice of redefinition.
Every relationship suppresses its hunger for redefinition, until the suppression runs out of steam. Once the appetite is unleashed, it consumes everything it sees. So, the beginning of the redefinition journey can be rocky. It’s always best to start with easy redefinitions.
Lately, I’ve been focused on tough cases. The redefinition of money, for example, is tough, and it increasingly feels like an old story. Everybody knows about crypto by now, and everybody has a position on the subject, but the redefinition of money seems to have stalled, crypto startups seem to have succumbed to the narcissism of small differences.
I've also been redefining freelancing by adopting a service model that has caused a few eyebrows to rise. Challenging long-established prejudices creates resistance, but honoring these prejudices exacts a higher cost.
In my next post, I’ll tackle an easy redefinition. I will redefine my relationship with you, the abstract reader I address through this blog.