Power of Words SB 9

In this week’s reading, Zola quoted a line that seems to sum it all up for me regarding the power that language has in society. "What is needed is not so much a change in language as an awareness of the power of words to condition attitudes." So often I hear people say "What does it matter how I say it?" or "It's just words". After all , didn't we learn early that, "Sticks and stones might break my bones but words will never hurt me?" To the contrary, maybe we should change it to, "but words hurt even more". The truth is the actual consequences of language, or the words we choose, is how we behave and think. According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis language goes deep into who we are. It is how we perceive categories. As we know categories means hierarchy and differential treatment depending on where you are in that hierarchy. Herbert Blumer separated it into three basic levels, including the actions we take, and how we interpret them. He goes on to add that meanings a a product of our interactions. In other words we often think we understand how things work, what they mean and so forth, but suddenly we discover that we may have been wrong, or slightly off base. What do we do about this, we negotiate our own definition. It’s the “Hmmm” moment when you feel you need to rethink something. It is always changing, fluid, developed, influenced, and produced by us. Therefore we are in control; we can change ourselves and others. Anything that is a product of society can be changed by society. We have a choice about consciously changing what we know is not right. We also have a responsibility to think about what we unconsciously think, leading us to use the language we do. An example in class was the song “Blurred Lines”. Many class mates statements sounded as if they thought this was too big an issue for them to take on. There is always something positive that can be done by any individual to change a wrong. In the case of the lyrics, 1) Don’t buy the song, 2) Don’t listen to the song, 3) Tell other what the words are so they can make an informed decision, 4) Monitor children’s listening (if you are responsible for any) 5.) Tell others the power of language. Well I could keep going but I think it is clear where I am going with this. Pharrell was featured in “Blurred Lines”, here’s a link to a better message of his ,Happy,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM Happiness is a perception, according to Pharrell. Let him and others know it is a perception based on language and we must all choose carefully.