"How often misused words generate misleading thoughts" - Herbert Spencer
If I am going to be completely honest, I have no idea how exactly take on this subject. I could take it from the political correct viewpoint, or talk about it from the angle of we as a society put too much power in words. And what is making me chuckle about this whole thing is that this article has the potential to possibly piss off some people, which completely emphasizes the point I'm trying to make. So I will do my best to tread lightly, but again, we tend to put too much power in words.
When did we as a society become such wimps? Starting off light. Growing up, I remember watching movies or just hearing conversations and people would say essentially what they wanted and no one would bat an eye or stop them. You know why? Because it was a conversation and no one gave a shit if what they were saying was PC or not, they were just talking to their friends. Flash forward to what ever the Hell time we are in currently and now any word has the potential to be a landmine for the self righteous to attack with an air of "holier than thou". They are words! They didn't have the negative connotation until someone felt the need to point out and say that it offended them. We have become a nation with a population whose response to given statements is the equivalent of "I'm a vegan". No one asked. And to be fair, no one cared until you felt the need to bring it up.
We have given words so much power. And often times the words that people are so readily offended by are not even what is meant by saying them. I have a good friend who enjoys calling people truly crass names. And I'd be lying if I said that I didn't do the same sometimes. I never mean them as malicious or cruel, I say them because sometimes they just seem fitting. I say them because they are just words. And if you think about it, all words started out because someone thought the word was fitting in that context.
Now I will concede, because if some of you have made it this far then I am sure you either agree or really want to argue with me on this point, words are a very integral part of life. But again, they only have as much power as we let them have. Words have the power to build up, tear down, create, destroy, inspire, vanquish, they can be our greatest assets in the world. I am a writer, I know there is immense power in words, but I also know that as a writer I have the power to control how much power I give them. We all have that power.
Words are the strongest weapon we have, there is no doubt about that. Don't abuse that power.
