Initially posted on Might 23, 2021 @ 10:25 AM
Don’t Look Now Security, Your Metaphor is Exhibiting
As a lot as STEM considering is aware of something about language, what it doesn’t know is that language is generally NOT descriptive. More often than not when people search to speak they use language that’s NOT descriptive however figurative. We most frequently search to explain expertise and information by what one thing is just not! That is the fantastic thing about metaphor. That is splendidly defined by Lakoff and Johnson (Metaphors We Dwell By ).
There’s a neat little video that explains it right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYcQcwUfo8c
At a philosophical degree this has enormous implications for the way we perceive language and communication in threat. Metaphor is embodied in all we are saying and do as folks battle to specific existential being to one another. Our alternative of metaphor most frequently reveals our underlying ethic/values. A lot of what we expertise can’t be described so we inform folks what it’s like, by metaphor, by what it’s not. Metaphor issues (https://safetyrisk.internet/why-metaphors-matter-in-risk/ ) in relation to threat as a result of it units the ethic for observe.
Let’s take one instance: ‘Persons are not issues to regulate however sources to harness’. Are you able to see the three metaphors on this aphorism? In actuality, individuals are neither ‘issues’ or ‘sources’ but are posed metaphorically as such and the thought of a harness is a metaphor of management. So, the expression states: that persons are to not be managed however to be managed.
The very last thing I would like is for somebody to ‘harness’ me. The harness stands in juxtaposition to: inspiration, innovation, invention, creativity and freedom of will. After all, the picture of a harness is a widely known semiotic that goes again millennia. The aim of a harness is to regulate one other or factor. The inspiration of this expression is the metaphor of management. Even when one strikes the metaphor away from horses and canines, when a human wears a harness the aim is management. Nonetheless, if one is looking for to be descriptive and searches for the phrase ‘harness’ in a dictionary, it’s all about sporting fittings to regulate. So, right here now we have it Security, the foundational ethic of security is management.
Let’s look (metaphor) one other instance: ‘notion is sort of a digicam’. After all, the human eye is nothing like a digicam however we use such a metaphor to attempt to clarify notion, by what it’s NOT like. The truth is, the selection of such a metaphor doesn’t come near explaining how the human eye or the psychology of notion work (https://safetyrisk.internet/visual-perception-and-the-camera-metaphor/ ). Equally, the usage of a pc metaphor to attempt to clarify the way in which the human mind works. Each metaphors are utterly deceptive and search to elucidate the mysteries of human notion and don’t do it very effectively. One won’t ever deal with threat effectively if such metaphors govern your occupied with threat and human judgement and determination making. The reductionist discourse that governs the security world is one among its enduring issues.
I exhibit a lot of this discourse in my guide Envisioning Danger, Seeing, Imaginative and prescient and That means in Danger (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/envisioning-risk-seeing-vision-and-meaning-in-risk/ ).
So, let’s discover just a few extra metaphors, for instance: golden guidelines. One of many darlings of zero imaginative and prescient is the elevation (metaphor) of golden (metaphor) guidelines (https://visionzero.international/movies ). Gold has been used as a metaphor for millennia and factors to what’s superlative in human expertise. Gold symbolizes what’s purest, most glorious, most noble, most enduring, most wanted, most ideally suited and most valued by way of human aspirations, human behaviour and human relationships. After all, there’s nothing uncommon or treasured concerning the zero imaginative and prescient ‘golden guidelines’, all are simply fundamental fundamentals in tackling threat. Nonetheless, the metaphor/image of ‘golden’ makes one suppose there’s something being introduced right here that’s out of the bizarre. Wouldn’t security be a lot better served if tackling threat as introduced as an bizarre on a regular basis exercise?
We now know of different metals extra useful than gold, however gold is traditionally the metaphor imagined with probably the most worth. Gold can be related to non secular illumination, perfection and incorruptibility, therefore why Zero in security is articulated in spiritual language and discourse. Each gold and 0 are understood as timeless, changeless, immortal and everlasting. That is how the phrase ‘gold’ has been used poetically all through millennia. Gold and 0 are used as a metaphorical measure of infinity. We not use the ‘gold customary’ as a measure economically however we proceed to make use of it metaphorically as a measure of perfection. Such can be the usage of zero.
Some even title their supply of security as ‘gold customary’ (https://www.goldstandardsafetyinc.com/; https://www.miningreview.com/health-and-safety/bureau-veritas-gold-standard-health-safety/ ). How fascinating to show to such a metaphor to elucidate the on a regular basis actuality of tacking threat, the place there are not any heroes, gurus or stars (https://safetyrisk.internet/no-gurus-no-stars-no-heroes-needed-in-safety/). Fancy setting oneself up because the ‘gold customary’ in security. I’m wondering what occurs when some fallible individual has an harm?
Why is it that Security frequently seeks to tackle these metaphors of perfection?
What good does it serve to arrange security as some technique of perfection when fallible folks (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/ ) search to deal with threat in an imperfect world in imperfect techniques? While you arrange security below metaphors of perfection the one end result might be blame and brutalism.
Alternatively, how on earth (metaphor) does the harmful brutal tradition of a meerkat serve to elucidate individuals tackling threat (https://safetyrisk.internet/meerkat-mythology-in-safety/ ). After all, the meerkat is the proper image of brutalism, the cousin of management and the sister of gold customary.
Now let’s return to the metaphor of the ‘7 Golden Guidelines’ for zero and see how good they’re? No-one wears PPE, no-one speaks conversationally (https://safetyrisk.internet/conversational-icue/ ), management is paramount, telling is king (metaphor), staff are negligent, blind and silly, security is linear and mechanical, security is about dos and don’ts and, threat is petty.
Maybe Security is a lot better served by on a regular basis metaphors of on a regular basis issues, experiences and actions.
Sadly, a lot of the language and metaphor paraded in security don’t serve it effectively. The medium of the message says greater than the message usually (https://safetyrisk.internet/the-medium-is-the-message/ ).
Security wants to concentrate far more to what it communicates unconsciously than what it thinks it communicates consciously.
The Unconscious is much extra highly effective that we think about and he or she determines what is basically stated about one’s ethic of threat.
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PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA
Rob is the founding father of Human Dymensions and has in depth expertise, {qualifications} and experience throughout a variety of sectors together with authorities, schooling, company, business and group sectors over 30 years. Rob has labored in any respect ranges of the schooling and coaching sector together with serving on numerous publish graduate government, publish graduate supervision, publish graduate course design and implementation packages.
