Thought of the Day 03.02.10

Yesterday, I saw a bumper sticker which said, “If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you’re reading it in English, thank a soldier.”

Now, being the snarky-snark philosopher that I am, I was immediately bothered by the use of “If.” Since there is no chance that a person who “is” reading this “can’t” read it, there is no if-ness here at all. Likewise, since the message is obviously in English, there’s a zero percent chance that someone is actually reading it in, say, Hebrew. Thus, the word in both cases should be “Since” rather than “If.” But that’s not the real issue.

The real issue is that, whereas the meaning of the first half is obvious, the second half is more ambiguous. I’m about ninety percent certain that the intended message was, “as opposed to Russian or some other invading country’s language.” But living in Arizona with a heavy Hispanic population, all language statements are tainted with the taste of the English-Spanish debate. So, there’s maybe a 10% chance that this person is talking about protection against Spanish-speakers, not communists.

I think this isn’t the intended message, but it raises the issue of knowing your context. Statements always get made in particular places, and part of making them wisely means understanding how message ambiguity can allow a biased reader to misunderstand you. In this case, “Since you’re not reading it in Russian or Chinese, thank a soldier,” would have worked much more effectively.