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I recently wrote a short comment on the morality of using words.  I just received a comment from Jim Lukaszewski on how we can get to “decency” in our relationships with others.  I thought his ideal of decency is pretty close to a common, cross-cultural understanding of morality, very much like the ideal of “virtue” proposed by Mencius and the behaviors advocated by the Buddha in his noble eightfold way to take in our lives.

In using words, Lukaszewski recommends:

The true test of civility is a commitment to verbal and written communication that are predominantly positive and declarative and behaviors that are simple, sensitive, sensible, constructive, positive, helpful, humble, empathetic and always benefit the recipient more than the giver.  Any other pathways lead only to trouble, prolong problems and delay mitigation and resolution.  Empathy means positive deeds that speak louder and more constructively than words.

Remember, the reverse of any of these words, ideas or behaviors only lead to trouble, problems and delayed mitigation and resolution; plus, revictimizing those who have been injured.

Higher interest rates do more than cause prices to rise and investments to be postponed or cancelled.  They can reduce valuations of assets.  With higher interest rates, it takes longer for an asset to earn a market return, which reduces its net present value.

Also, loans made at a lower interest rate are worth less to potential buyers of such investment contracts when rates go up.  Thus, in the U.S., the Silicon Valley Bank bankrupted itself by putting too much of its capital into low interest rate U.S. government bonds.

Now in the U.S., nearly every publicly traded bank corporation has loans on its books as assets, which are worth less today than when they were made.  Rising interest rates cause the decline in market value of the loan repayment notes.

The mission of capitalism is to create wealth.  High interest rates, then, put obstacles in the way of that achievement.

So, when we seek to evaluate the social good – the public good – of capitalism, we should keep a close eye on those conditions which make for wealth creation and those which inhibit such economic growth.

Managing interest rates is a seeking of balance between too high and too low.  A middle way suggests itself as most conducive to enhancing society’s well-being.

One of the most exciting and stimulating aspects of capitalism is also one of its most alienating – innovation and the creation of new ways to use land, labor, capital and machines.  Some win, but others lose.  The system is a churning whirlpool of dynamic interactions.

Social media was created for us by capitalism through innovation, invention of technologies and satisfaction of consumer needs and wants.  Are we better or worse off for capitalism having invented and sold social media?  Both, perhaps.  As some Vietnamese Buddhists say, “No gain without a loss.”

The Economist recently opined that TikTok has “changed social media for good,” in the sense of “forever.”  TikTok invented an information collection system which used algorithms to decide which short videos should be shown to its consumers.  Consumers love the dependency on AI for entertaining them.  But the business model generates less revenue for the social media platform.

In five years, in the American social media market, TikTok has attracted some 100 million plus users.

To compete, Facebook and Instagram have turned their main feeds into algorithmically sorted “discovery engines.”  Similar, look-alike products have been put in the social media marketplace by Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, Netflix and now, Spotify.  As a result, short-term video has taken over social media.

Of the 64 minutes that the average American spends viewing such services a day, 40 minutes are spent on short videos.  The new format is less profitable than the old news feed.

TikTok monetizes its customers (suppliers?) at $0.31 for every hour of use, much lower than Facebook and Instagram.

The ad load attached to a short video is less than other content.

Secondly, video ads are more expensive to produce, limiting the number of advertisers willing to pay for their placement on the short video platforms.

Thirdly, video games attract customers.  Last year, globally, some 3.2 billion people played video games.  Usage has grown with the spread of smartphones, a technological innovation of capitalism.  The game market will be worth U.S. $185 billion this year.

Fourth, Elon Musk talks as if he has a new business model for Twitter.  He wants to promote “citizen journalism” (and profit therefrom) to take market share from the legacy media in print and television.  He plans to give users who tweet and have their posts checked for reliability and accuracy the role of journalists – finding news and bringing it before the public.  This is power to the people on a scale never imagined by the founders of Students for a Democratic Society in 1962 with their Port Huron Statement.

I recently read two articles about words – one made the point that some words have more power than others to persuade and motivate people, while the second article advised how to use two special words to “increase productivity, enhance collaboration among employees, make managers more effective and improve corporate performance.”

To be human is to use words.  Our thoughts come to us in words and go from us to others with words.  Different cultures have their own special words to express understandings unknown to members of other cultures.  We present ourselves to others mostly with words.  We belong because we can speak our own words to others and we can hear the words of others to learn about them.  We discriminate ourselves from others based on thoughts and feelings associated with words.  We distance ourselves from others, denigrate them, hate them, make trouble for them, argue with them, try to influence them, with words.

So, if words are so important, what is the morality of using words?

I wrote recently in Pegasus about etiquette.  Social conventions include moral conventions on what words to use when, in order to be gracious to or hospitable with others.  Well-chosen words build social capital.  The wrong words can dissolve social capital.

Jonah Berger wrote in the Wall Street Journal that since we all like to think of ourselves positively, by framing particular actions in a way that helps create those positive perceptions of self, we can intentionally encourage people, including ourselves, to behave accordingly.

Have you ever had a conversation with yourself about yourself?  Did you use words with depressive affect or words which lifted your spirits, validated your sense of your agency and put you in a frame of mind to solve problems and make the world better?

Berger had one tip – when you are working with others, change key action points from verbs to nouns.  Don’t ask another to “help” you do something.  Rather, ask them if they would like to be a “helper.”

People asked to become voters turned out to vote 15% more than those asked to “go vote.”

Use words that convey confidence, speak with certainty and bring forth some charisma from your inner, genuine convictions.

You can let people know you have heard them by using concrete words anchoring their concerns.

Ask for advice.  That makes the people who ask seem more sure of themselves, more skilled and qualified.

Most importantly, don’t pass by or overlook opportunities to say “thank you.”

Those are the two words which can bring home your bacon.  Let others know you value them. Feeling valued makes everyone think more highly of those who let them know that they matter and more willing to go out of their way to help those who show gratitude and appreciation.

So, teamwork and collaboration deliver more results and contribute to higher morale when thanks are given by one to another.  Expressions of gratitude accomplish more when they are made publicly.

Words become moral when they seek moral ends – care and concern for others, sacrifice of self-interest, acting as steward and eschewing taking advantage of others.

Words are building blocks of social capital, of moral capitalism and moral government.