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LR
Word Salad
Logan Rutledge
Duo
2022
Bassoon
Piano
- Program Notes
- Word Salad is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a jumble of extremely incoherent speech." While originally used to describe speech patterns in schizophrenia, the term has made its way into the vernacular in describing the unintelligible rantings of powerful people in society. These word salads are often used to obfuscate the truth, to make one's language sound so complicated that it could only be understood by an elite few, or by the speaker alone. An excellent example of a powerful figure often associated with word salads used in this manner is Jordan Peterson, of which the first movement is inspired. Jordan Peterson is a retired professor of psychology who attempts to stir controversy by jumbling extremely niche verbiage into language devoid of meaning, or at the very least, is much more shallow than the language would imply. It is my opinion that Peterson does this intentionally to further his extremely backwards social policies in the minds of the gullible who lap up every banal word salad that escapes his mouth. "Agents confronting a landscape of possibility" is a segment of an extremely long winded 'answer' given by Peterson in a highly watched Youtube video, and makes for a rollercoaster of a word salad. A different use of word salad in the vernacular is similarly used to describe meaningless statements by powerful voices, but this time there appears to be less agency on the part of the speaker. By this, I mean, in my opinion, less obvious malice intent, but from a similarly dangerous source of ignorance and misinformation. This is an apt description for Sarah Palin, the subject of the third movement, "All of Them". In this instance, Palin is answering a question posed by Katie Couric. Couric is asking Palin which written news sources she read most often before being selected to run as McCain's vice president. Palin, after clumsily stumbling over her words in a nonanswer, confidently exclaims "all of them." Couric prods that nonanswer as the brilliant journalist she is, and Palin is left only to form a mosaic of madlibbed phrases, obfuscating the truth but answering sufficiently for her voter base. The second movement, "Lying Perpetually", is my rumination and introspection on word salads as a tool for amassing an audience through deceit, whether intentional or stumbled upon.
- Performer Credits
- Joe Swift, Bassoon Shuting Ye, Piano
- Publisher
- Rutledge Press (ASCAP)