For me, “guilty pleasure” is a worse tag because it encourages me to feel guilty, which is exactly what I don’t want to encourage myself to do.
“I’m being so evil by listening to Barry Manilow” works well for me exactly because it’s too ridiculous to take seriously, so it diffuses guilt. I’m making light of the feel-guilty impulse, not just acknowledging it.
This is meant in a lighthearted fashion—but you would feel guilty listening to Barry Manilow? These days, the colloquialism, “guilty pleasure,” is meant to be funny, not to invoke actual guilt.
That being said, the concept of feeling guilty when appropriate, actually serves a useful purpose. Those on the anti-social personality disorder spectrum lack a sense of guilt, which is why they so often purposely hurt others. To me, that is evil personified.
In psychology, it is said that all of the disorders in the DSM usually only hurt the person who has the disorder. The exception is the anti-social spectrum disorders—those are the disorders that hurt everyone else. It is said jokingly, however it is truer than not.
Anyway, linguistics is an interesting topic because language literally shapes our perceptions, whether we are consciously aware of it or not.
Add to that the concept of cognitive dissonance, and how our behavior changes in accordance with our words, and you soon realize how powerful language is.
Words have the power to shape what we see, quite literally, and words can determine how we act. This isn’t new, it is why we pledge allegiance to our respective flags, or take oaths, or swear on a bible in court to tell the truth.
I’m currently working on a post about the subject, so please stay tuned...
Whatever works for you!
For me, “guilty pleasure” is a worse tag because it encourages me to feel guilty, which is exactly what I don’t want to encourage myself to do.
“I’m being so evil by listening to Barry Manilow” works well for me exactly because it’s too ridiculous to take seriously, so it diffuses guilt. I’m making light of the feel-guilty impulse, not just acknowledging it.
This is meant in a lighthearted fashion—but you would feel guilty listening to Barry Manilow? These days, the colloquialism, “guilty pleasure,” is meant to be funny, not to invoke actual guilt.
That being said, the concept of feeling guilty when appropriate, actually serves a useful purpose. Those on the anti-social personality disorder spectrum lack a sense of guilt, which is why they so often purposely hurt others. To me, that is evil personified.
In psychology, it is said that all of the disorders in the DSM usually only hurt the person who has the disorder. The exception is the anti-social spectrum disorders—those are the disorders that hurt everyone else. It is said jokingly, however it is truer than not.
Anyway, linguistics is an interesting topic because language literally shapes our perceptions, whether we are consciously aware of it or not.
Add to that the concept of cognitive dissonance, and how our behavior changes in accordance with our words, and you soon realize how powerful language is.
Words have the power to shape what we see, quite literally, and words can determine how we act. This isn’t new, it is why we pledge allegiance to our respective flags, or take oaths, or swear on a bible in court to tell the truth.
I’m currently working on a post about the subject, so please stay tuned...