The Power of Words
Language has an irreplaceable role in our lives as mankind has grown to depend on it as an important way of acquiring Knowledge. But how valid is language as a way of knowing? French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre answered this question with the quote: "Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think." Words do indeed lie. It is precisely because of its role as an indispensable tool of communication and thoughts that words have the power to mold our values, emotions and perception. We encounter large amounts of hidden implications and deceptions embedded in words on a daily basis, from the books we read to the news we hear. Language can be a powerful instrument of expression when effectively applied or that of deceits when abused. Thus, the objective of this essay is to evaluate the impact of language on our perception and illustrate its "treacherous and powerful" nature using examples from Areas of Knowledge including human science, ethics, history and mathematics.
Linguist Edward Sapir's theory holds the view that language has the power to shape people's views. Peggy Rosenthal in her book Words and Values concurs with Sapir's philosophy that words have the power to lead people's behaviour and thoughts. Words can have both a positive and treacherous influence on our way of intellectual pursuits and personal life. The word "development" acquired its significance from the Darwin's Theory of Evolution, highly regarded by men as a positive concept because of the Evolution Theory's success (Rosenthal 51). Once "development" earned its validity in science, it becomes a dominant and powerful term that motivates the desire in men to move forward in other areas such as the bloom of multitudes of art movements. Thus the word "develop" reinforces society's goal to move in a positive direction. However its ubiquity can also create an illusion that "development" is a must (Rosenthal 77). Let's illustrate this with a personal example from the human sciences. A man began an affair and put his marriage at risk. After all the pain and tears, the couple reconciled and only remembered the good. While they tore each other apart during the affair, saying that they've "developed so much" from the affair suddenly put the experience into a positive light. Such positive terms are frequently employed in our society to justify our actions. Thus we should be careful where words lead us.
Furthermore, because our understanding of the world is, as Sapir puts it, "to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group", it's easy to commit the misconception that we are interacting directly with reality as opposed to a world of words describing reality. In human sciences, this excessive trust in the validity of language and the direct linkage between thoughts and words result in possible "brainwashing" if certain words occur at an extremely high frequency in a person's daily interaction (Rosenthal 168). Failure to reflect upon the origins and implications of these words ...
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Furthermore, because our understanding of the world is, as Sapir puts it, "to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group", it's easy to commit the misconception that we are interacting directly with reality as opposed to a world of words describing reality. In human sciences, this excessive trust in the validity of language and the direct linkage between thoughts and words result in possible "brainwashing" if certain words occur at an extremely high frequency in a person's daily interaction (Rosenthal 168). Failure to reflect upon the origins and implications of these words lead to subliminal acceptance of ideologies embedded in the language. Such cases of ignorance about words are ubiquitous in society. The spread of racism feeds effectively on such ignorance. American children of the early 1900s grew up in a society of distinct black and white. The younger generation's mind were easily cultivated to accept racism through frequent and normalized exposure to prejudice words associated with the black population such as "coloured", "different" and "inferior". Even some vocabularies used today generate race-specific images such as "ghetto".
Another consequence of one's failure to recognize that language is not an absolutely accurate depiction of reality is the complete alteration of reality. While words represent or symbolize the world to help us operate better in it, we often directly operate upon the representation itself wildly (Martinich 100). History is then at the mercy of words because it is the dominant tool for a historian to study the past (Mogyrosi, Ellen 2002). Perhaps a microcosm of how emotional words influence history is gossip. When I tell gossip to a friend, I use large amounts of expressions that appeal to emotions such as "horrific" or "unbelievable" in an assertive tone without consideration of their affects on my listener. As the friend passes the story along, personal improvisation and emotional words proliferate from her mouth at an even greater level. Consequently, it would result in exaggeration and divergence from reality.
Synonyms work side by side with words appealing to emotion. Many words have similar denotations but different connotations. When they are interchanged freely, alteration of perception may occur. A British priest wrote a letter to home in 1881 that the some of the First Nations People have "successfully adopted the British lifestyle" (Davison 24). Here the priest's bias that the British have an advanced lifestyle over the First Nations and beneficial to the natives is implied. The reader would hail the British for bringing convenience to the natives. But if another historian observes and records that some of the First Nations People have been "assimilated by the British", we are suddenly faced with a harsher connotation of forced conversion and a loss of cultural identity. Because of the hidden connotations and subjectivity involved in one's language, the historian is only able to conjure an incomplete conclusion or even be predisposed by the subjective words to make a one-sided conclusion.
So far I've discussed the power of words in human sciences and history. But the most treacherous nature of words lies in propagandistic language, fulfilling Sartre's quote to the extreme. The Nazi's were masters of using propagandistic words to manipulate people's minds. One of their favourite and most convincing methods for covering up their cruelty towards the Jews was the euphemistic use of scientific words for non-scientific purposes. Euphemism if applied appropriately may help ease emotional tensions, such as replacement of "died" with "passed away". However, Adolf Hitler's political language exploits euphemism to its fullest making it "the most powerful agent of destruction" (ctd. Nystrand 43). Terms such as "liquidation" and "extermination" replaced "murder"(Pratkanis and Aronson 164). The Nazi's also masked the innumerous deaths of innocent civilians with the term "collateral damage" (Pratkanis and Aronson 214), which has a neutral connotation independent of emotional and ethical concepts and without conjuring mental images of deaths. Here, because of the special status science occupies as a validated subject, scientific terms appear in an aura of special validity and positive or at least neutral value. A common psychology is that if certain words tell truth in one place, it's expected to tell truth in another (Rosenthal 172). Had the people been aware of the actual meaning behind these words, deaths surely couldn't have increased to shocking figures. Thus, when left in the wrong hands or context, words have far reaching affects in altering perception.
Propagandistic language also operates on another characteristic of language - ambiguity. Words especially in ethics have a lot of flexibility open for personal interpretation. This room for personal interpretation is often abused. As speaker communicates ideas using vague or abstract words such as "some" or "fair", the listener is subject to the trickery embedded in these words similar to how one could be fooled by the small prints on contracts. George Orwell's novel Animal Farm is a classic example. As the pigs took over the farm and established new rules for the animals, they stated that all animals should be treated equally. But as the pigs rose to power they revised the rule to "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" and held power over the rest of the animals (Orwell, 105). The words "some", "equal" and "others" create, ironically, a subjective justice system. There is a gap between the animals' naive and literal understanding of "all animals are equal" and what the pigs really meant, that is there are different levels of equality. This mirrors the human society where politicians take advantage of the veracious people by pulling a cloud of ambiguity over the audience in their speeches that promise nothing concrete.
A counter argument to Sartre's claim is the case of mathematics. It is not subject to the flexibility and subjectivity of language, because mathematics is independent of experience (Liu, Emily 2003). Mathematics, unlike words, has precise values to its symbols such as pi and other constants. The objective and logical nature of mathematics means that a theory can be tested and proven for validity. A list of deductive reasoning can be provided to prove that angles of equal sides of any isosceles triangle are always equal. Yet the exact meaning of a statement made by an art critic about a painting may obscure people's opinion towards the art piece and remain subject to permanent debates.
In short, our reliance and trust in words lead to positive but also frequently negative consequences as demonstrated in human science, history and ethics. I've only touched upon the influences language holds over us at a superficial level. The relation between words and power is one of reciprocal influence. Powerful words have the ability to lead people's thoughts and behaviour while tainted minds control words and insert deceits to corrupt the naive and innocent. Upon scrutiny, it's the flexible and subjective nature of words that contributes to its treacherous and powerful reputation. However, words are indispensable to humankind. Thus we need to keep a cautious mind towards the words we use and encounter, including those of this essay.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Davison, Rober. Eagle transforming : the art of Robert Davidson. Vancouver :
Douglas & McIntyre, 1994.
Martinich, A. P. The Philosphy of Language. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2001.
Nystrand, Martin. Language As A Way of Knowing: A Book of Readings. Ontario: The
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1977.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1990.
Pratkanis, Anthony and Elliot Aronson. Age of Progaganda. 2nd ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2001.
Personal Discussions:
Liu, Emily. "Mathematics is Independent of Experience". Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School. BC. 2003
Mogyrosi, Ellen. "Areas of Knowledge". Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School. BC. 2002
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