Psalm 28: Speaking Subjective Concepts As Objective Truths
An old-new sort of doublespeak
Language is important. Words have meanings, they convey ideas to other people, so they can understand what you are thinking.
In psalm 28 verse 3, the psalmist prays “Do not count me with the wicked and evildoers who profess goodwill toward their fellows while malice is in their heart.” “Profess goodwill” is not the only possible translation. Dovrei shalom literally means “speakers of peace”. Perhaps, “those who speak about peace with their friends, but intend malice in their hearts.”
A ‘dichotomy of evil’ is found in the disconnect between speech and intent, or redefining the meaning of the language you are using in order to discredit another.
A few scenarios come to mind.
In one, when you talk about equality and fairness, but only hire people who look like you. It’s not that the person you ultimately hire is not capable, so you tell people that you were just hiring the “best”, but you didn’t truly consider the other candidates you quickly disregarded.
How can someone be the best when there is no real competition?
Another example is even more insidious. Communicating with the doublespeak made famous by George Orwell’s 1984; using words in ways that sound pleasant and logical to the listener, but are truly despicable. One that comes to mind is the “Limpieza de Sangre”, or the Purity of Blood acts in Spain and Portugal from the 15th century on. How could someone be against “limpieza” (cleanliness)? Another is when the Nazis used the terms “rule of law” and “order”, when what they really meant was anything but. Who could argue with having a lawful and orderly society?
These seem like very different situations. But what happens when you tell the person you didn’t hire that there are just “better” candidates? How is the word “better” not equally as charged, and as problematic, as “cleanliness” or “law”? It seems to make the situation logical and not emotional, not biased, as if there exists an “objective” better or worse set in stone when it comes to candidates for a particular job.
There are subjective rules that you created to ensure a better fit for some people and not other people. “Qualified” itself is a meaningless term like that. No one wants to hire an “unqualified” person, but the qualification itself can become utterly subjective.
Perhaps a contemporary reading of this psalm could be, “do not let me become one of those people who speak subjective concepts as objective truths.”