Decoded meanings, not messages, are what produce effects

Evidence

Reciprocity. No thing or event has a fixed, intrinsic meaning; its meaning only emerges through interaction with other things or events. This is equally true of the particular items within any cultural system, of the individual’s relationship to any given piece of culture, and of the individual’s actions in society. … A fundamental circularity is involved in all cultural systems. No legal precept is valid in itself, but only in relation to other legal precepts. A line has no intrinsic length; it can be measured only by comparing it with another line. The validity of any scientific or philosophic proposition depends on its relation to another proposition, the validity of which ultimately depends on the first. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 72 (#expands, via linked claim)

One way to treat your experiences is to review them like a journalist. Be descriptive and be aware of feelings aroused by sounds and the relationship of sounds. Remember that linguistic thoughts are sounds if you choose to listen to them that way. — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 221 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

By the first clause I mean to invert this relationship, not to make any large metaphysical claims but rather, by reordering the relation of communication to reality, to render communication a far more problematic activity than it ordinarily seems. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 187 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Messages are polysemic, so decoding never guarantees preferred intended meaning.; Linguistic thoughts can be heard as sounds rather than meanings — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 221; Meaning arises from articulating linguistic systems rather than reflecting the world (+6 more)

Related

• Meaning arises from relations of difference between terms (similarity 0.83)
• Messages are polysemic, so decoding never guarantees preferred intended meaning. (similarity 0.82)
• Meaning in culture emerges only through interaction with other elements (similarity 0.81)
• Communication constitutes reality rather than merely representing it (similarity 0.80)
• Ritualized Quran recitation engages text non-hermeneutically rather than extracting meaning (similarity 0.80)
• People answer what they think you mean, not what you say (similarity 0.79)
• Communication succeeds only through shared contextual beliefs that cannot be fully formalized (similarity 0.79)
• A message must be meaningfully decoded before it can produce any effect. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Meaning in culture emerges only through interaction with other elements #expands (0.82) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 72
• Linguistic thoughts can be heard as sounds rather than meanings #contradicts (0.40) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 221
• Communication does not report reality but inverts the reported relation to it #expands (0.40) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 187
• Meaning arises from articulating linguistic systems rather than reflecting the world #expands (0.35)
• Misunderstanding is the norm rather than an anomaly in communication #expands (0.35) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 759
• Ritualized Quran recitation engages text non-hermeneutically rather than extracting meaning #corroborates (0.30)