17 - Language Can Fight

Language is a strong tool when it comes to influencing others and how they are perceived, but it is an equally strong tool for fighting this construction. Many people realize that the status-quo does not have to be that way, society does not have to be how it is because that is the way it’s always been. Just because it is tradition does not make it right. Tracing back into our history, we see a shift of terms referring to African-Americans from being “property” that was “bought and sold” to what they really were, people. People who were enslaved but liberated, gaining rights and (somewhat) equality. Right now, we are seeing the pull towards “immigrant” over “alien”, a term that has been used since this country’s foundation. Most recently, we are also seeing a rise in the “Alt-Right” movement being called “neo-Nazi”, because that it what they are and it grabs the public’s attention. This new push for “alternative this” and “alternative that” is leading to an increase in people pulling back the curtain and exposing the man for what he really is. This is grabbing the public’s attention and making them realize the shenanigans that are going on in our government right now. The public, and media, is challenging this by calling a horse a horse, not allowing language to aid the government in pulling its sheet over our eyes.