The word is magic.
\nSometimes you don't think about it; you live it.
\nA word appears. In the middle of a song, in the title of a news article, in the middle of a sentence. It touches somewhere inside you. You stop.<\/p>\n
Some words make you cry, some make you dance, some silence you. Because words have a rhythm. They have a time. It is like a note; if it comes at the right moment, it opens you up, if it comes at the wrong moment, it scatters everything.<\/p>\n
That is why poetry is written, songs are sung, epics are created with words.
\nAnd that is precisely why words are not innocent.
\nThe moment you say a word, you choose a side.
\nYou either pray or curse.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the word calls for good, sometimes it magnifies evil.
\nThis land knows this well. \u201cA bad word belongs to its owner,\u201d it is said, explaining that the word will find its way back to the person. The warning \u201cLet your ears hear what comes out of your mouth\u201d reminds us that words do not just come and go. This is also the reason for wishing for good words. Because words do not just tell; they build.
\nSometimes it destroys.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this is why the \u201cword\/concept of the year\u201d chosen by the Turkish Language Association every year is not a simple choice. That word records the state of mind of a society.<\/p>\n
Last year's selection, \u201ccrowded solitude\u201d, did just that.
\nThe place was crowded. There were people everywhere.
\nBut no one was touching anyone.
\nThere was sound, there was noise; there was no inner voice.
\nWe were alone in the crowd.<\/p>\n
When we look at this year's nominated words, the picture becomes even clearer: This is not a list; it is the name of a state.<\/p>\n Digital conscience is a state of looking at the screen. A baby dies, you feel sad. You share it. A forest burns down, your heart burns. You write \u201cI condemn\u201d. Then you swipe the screen. Conscience remains on your fingertips.<\/p>\n Conscientious blindness is not not not knowing. It is choosing not to see. Because seeing disturbs comfort. It reminds us to be human.<\/p>\n Compassion without action is the most familiar form of this age. Crying over the killing of newborn babies and doing nothing. Feeling the pain of stray animals but never changing your life. Feeling sad when children die in Gaza, Yemen and other geographies, but not moving.<\/p>\n There is compassion, but it is suspended. Barrenness is not only the state of the soil, but of the heart, the thought, the conscience. It is neither completely dead nor alive.<\/p>\n Uniformization is a silent resemblance. An order where everyone conforms but no one is themselves.<\/p>\n The most striking one is this: It is precisely here that crowded loneliness ceases to be an innocent state. The crowds decide whose pain will be heard and whose will be carried in silence. Perhaps that is why we need the magic of words today more than ever. Because words can make you human again. They disturb. They wake you up. Make you question. In a few days it will be clear which one will be chosen as this year's \u201cword of the year\u201d. But one thing is certain: All of these words describe where being human is wounded.<\/p>\n The question is this: While there is a deep silence in the face of the suffering of ordinary people, when the comfort zone of the elite is disrupted, all kinds of actions, anger and even violence are suddenly legitimized.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[286],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-yazarlar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280726"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280730,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280726\/revisions\/280730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDigital conscience.<\/em>
\nConscientious blindness.<\/em>
\nCompassion without action.<\/em>
\nBarrenness.<\/em>
\nUniformization.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nConscience is eased, responsibility is postponed.<\/p>\n
\nWhile there is a deep silence in the face of the suffering of ordinary people, when the comfort zone of the elite is disrupted, all kinds of actions, anger and even violence are suddenly legitimized. The streets are silent for the problems of the other, but for the powerful we take sides with, we suddenly shout, call out and take to the streets.<\/p>\n
\nBecause this loneliness is not evenly distributed.
\nEven crowds are categorized; loneliness is also categorized.<\/p>\n
\nEven those who stand in the same square do not experience the same loneliness.
\nThat is why the other is always lonelier.
\nInvisible in the crowd.<\/p>\n
\nA human being is not defined by being happy, but by worrying about someone else's pain.
\nAnd sometimes one does not choose words.
\nWords come and find people.<\/p>\n
\nDo we still feel that wound?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"