2. Write an essay explaining whether you believe that efforts to eliminate sexism, racism, and violence in language are effective, or whether such efforts simply mask these issues.
I believe that the efforts that have been taken to
reduce the sexism, racism, and violence in language are ineffective and they
are masking the issues. At first glance, it might look like a good cause.
Eliminating racism and sexism from our language? Now that sounds like a step
towards peace. However, In Michiko Kakutani’s claim in The Word Police, she argues that this elimination of violent words
comes with a price – our freedom of speech. Our language as we know it would be
censored and there is quite a lot of vocabulary associated with racism, sexism,
and violence. It would diminish our precious diversity in our unique language
and destroy the ideals of inclusion.
In reality, the words are actually not being
eliminated. Those words are being hidden behind another word that sounds nicer.
This is called euphemism. In Words Don’t
Mean What They Mean, he brings the light upon this issue of direct speech
and indirect speech. He claims that “indirect speech [is] a means of saving
face” and this relates back to individuals who want to tone down their offensiveness.
These euphemisms can also lead to misunderstandings. Violent language doesn’t
always have to be threatening; it can just be used in a saying. In the brochure
written for elementary teachers in Ontario, they replace the “violent” phrase, “kill
two birds with one stone” with “get two for the price of one”. When I was younger, I never associated this
saying with any violence. My elementary teachers would say it and the words
would impact me as the “violent” phrase had a more emphasize. Although, I could
see it in a perspective that young children are too young to understand that
these phrases are just sayings and not to be taken literally.
I also believe that the efforts are taken because of
the purpose of wanting a certain outcome. As Luntz said in from Words That Work, “Sometimes it is not what you say that
matters but what you don’t say”. If a
male is trying to hook up with a female but says something sexist, the girl is
most likely going to leave. By not saying anything sexist, his chances of
getting together with the girl goes up and he gets his certain outcome of the
night. These efforts are honestly for the individual’s benefit and I doubt that
the individual is thinking about the greater issue on hand.
