the power of words

The quickest way to change the world is to change the narrative of issues that are plaguing the world, the easiest way to do this is coining new words or bringing terms that were not used in our daily life and popularizing them. We now talk about 'normalization', 'gaslighting', 'whataboutism', etc. and those terms don't necessarily have a negative connotation to it, depending on how you use it of course. But popular buzzwords that are used by populists, generally are specifically used to instill fear, anger, and various emotions. think of the Trump administration switching the term "family reunification" into "chain migration", or the Bush administration's ability to turn "torture" into "enhanced interrogation", doesn't that sound more pleasant than torture or my personal favorite, Ronald Reagan's "wellfare queen" which he used to justify cutting off government help for poor people. These "new" words are often used online, and spread like a wildfire. let's talk about it!

there are so many ways to tell stories, you can do it by exaggerating, purposefully ignoring important details, distorting it, or simply by making it sound nicer or less bad than it actually is. This is often done in journalism, when for example assaults on civilian worshippers inside of a mosque by armed forces in an occupied territory are called "clashes", clashes sounds like it was a fair fight, doesn't it. (spoiler alert, it wasn't a fair fight) The language that we use to shed light on a situation, can completely change the narrative, it can fully bury the bodies (but i guess it can also uncover them) Accuracy matters when talking about issues and when you are telling a story, especially since you really are only as good as your word, or maybe that is just a thing of the past. The true meaning of life and your search within it, is not only how you live it, but also how you describe it. Be mindful of the words that you use, especially if you have a platform to speak on (which all of us have) call it like you see it, not everything has to be seen and experienced through rose colored glasses, but in the same sense not everything needs to be sensationalized to invoke strong emotions. I'll end with this quote from Rebecca Solnit: "once we call it by name, we can start having a real conversation about our priorities and values. Because the revolt against brutality begins with the revolt against the language that hides that brutality."