The Question

The Question

A New, Disruptive Community

Questions and Perspective

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To wrap up his presentation, Frederick Tamagi posts several important questions:

  • In the case of important Canadian words like tolerance and freedom, should we also search for important context before we adopt any symbols that will represent the meaning of those words?
  • Even as we freely welcome new citizens into the Canadian family, does that mean that we are also obligated to welcome all the symbols that accompany them, even if they reflect a context that we would oppose?
  • If we agree that our Charter rightfully protects Zunera’s freedom to choose whether or not to wear the niqab, does that also mean that we should not, or even cannot question the choice itself?
  • How can we practice tolerance and freedom here without glorifying the opposite elsewhere?

Distorted Meaning

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The negative experience of so many female Muslims in their native countries in the areas of education, employment, law, and violence, provided presenter Frederick Tamagi with a different and controversial context for the words “tolerance” and “freedom”.

Real contronyms are embedded with their opposite meaning until their proper context is revealed. For that reason, we are compelled to wait for, or search for the proper context to know what the contronyms really mean.

Our most important words have the potential to be distorted and even wrongly applied if we are too simplistic about our symbols or careless about the context.

The Tension

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Do the words “tolerance” or “freedom” have the potential to become a contronym, as in their own opposite or a strange reverse reflection of themselves?

In connection with the Niqab debate, presenter Frederick Tamagi asks:

  • What if the exercise of tolerance in our community affirmed acts of intolerance in someone else’s community?
  • What if the granting of freedom in our community affirmed the denial of freedom in someone else’s community?

If tolerance and freedom were the looking glass through which we saw the Niqab debate, then context is ultra important to the meaning of those words.

Context Is Essential

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Context is essential to meaning. The only way that keywords will not be useless, self-contradictory and meaningless is for us to know the context.

The more knowledge and the greater context we can bring to the words, the closer we are to their real meaning, if there is such a thing.

Contronyms give us a much needed excuse to press into the meaning of the words we use – to be intentional about what we mean and why we mean it.

In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi goes deeper into the subject of contronyms, and how context is essential to the meanings we derive from sentences and words.

Contronym II

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Contronyms are more are less meaningless without a context. Left in uninformed isolation, they implode in confusing self-contradiction. And yet, they are widely used, not for what they mean, but for what they wish them to mean.

There are 100 or so official contronyms in the English language. They remind us that context can determine or even disturb our certainty about a meaning of a word.

In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi sheds some light on how contronyms can cause confusion in communication.

TQP 003: The Context of Truth

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The Question Podcast

We can choose to examine a faraway object in the night sky with binoculars or a telescope. Or we can choose to examine a very tiny object with a magnifying glass or a microscope. Sometimes we don’t intentionally choose the option that will provide more clarity. Sometimes it’s just easier not to.

Like Alice in Wonderland, will you choose to chase after the white rabbit? What will you discover when you examine truth using a tool that matches the object you are exploring?

The third TQ podcast features highlights from our third gathering in November. You’ll hear clips from our presenter Frederick Tamagi, as well as music from Jonathan Ferguson who reveals the meanings behind his well-written songs.

Thank you for listening!

What questions will you be taking with you after listening to this episode?

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