Being a writer, I take great interest in words,
what they mean and how they are used.
Words, quite literally, create the reality that we see.
Words are tricky though.
They can be used in different ways
and with different purposes.
They can be used to create any kind of reality.
But always, they are used for a purpose.
And that purpose is not always innocent or honest.
Sometimes, words are used to mislead, or to misconstrue
the way we define reality.
I take issue when the
intentional mis-construction of words hurts people.
There are a couple of terms that I would like to explore here.
The first is a term created by the military.
It is 'collateral damage'.
The term sounds benign and harmless.
It triggers no emotional response in the listener.
It really just sounds like something got broken.
Oh well. Things get broken all the time.
Whatever it was can be fixed or replaced.
There is another term, 'casualties of war'.
More of us are familiar with this term,
at least those of us old enough to remember the Vietnam War
(which incidentally is called the 'American War' here in Viet Nam).
We know 'casualty of war' means someone died.
We don't know if it was the enemy or a civilian
or one of 'our own'.
But, we know someone died.
Still, it doesn't create much of a stir in our hearts.
How about this term, 'Your brother was killed.'
Or this one, 'An innocent child was murdered.'
How does your heart respond to these words?
When you hear the words, 'collateral damage' next,
know that what's really being said is,
'Someone's brother, or father, or sister or daughter was killed'.
And, does it really matter if it was the enemy that killed her
or 'friendly fire' (someone on our side) who killed her???
She's dead.
And that is final.
When words are used by those in authority positions to
change how we perceive reality,
it is called 'propaganda',
which is defined in the dictionary as
'deceptive or distorted information that is systematically spread'.
And why would they do that?
Because those creating the distortion want to change
how we 'see', and ultimately respond to,
events that are happening in our lives.
After all, you might respond differently if you heard
'Your son was murdered.'
than if you heard there was 'collateral damage'.
And, I haven't even gotten to the terms that are
particularly bothersome to me.
I'll cover those in a later post.
Meanwhile, listen carefully to the news reports.
Demystify strange terms like 'collateral damage'.
Discern for yourself what is really being said.
And allow your heart to respond to the real information.
Then, we shall hear the people speak.
what they mean and how they are used.
Words, quite literally, create the reality that we see.
Words are tricky though.
They can be used in different ways
and with different purposes.
They can be used to create any kind of reality.
But always, they are used for a purpose.
And that purpose is not always innocent or honest.
Sometimes, words are used to mislead, or to misconstrue
the way we define reality.
I take issue when the
intentional mis-construction of words hurts people.
There are a couple of terms that I would like to explore here.
The first is a term created by the military.
It is 'collateral damage'.
The term sounds benign and harmless.
It triggers no emotional response in the listener.
It really just sounds like something got broken.
Oh well. Things get broken all the time.
Whatever it was can be fixed or replaced.
There is another term, 'casualties of war'.
More of us are familiar with this term,
at least those of us old enough to remember the Vietnam War
(which incidentally is called the 'American War' here in Viet Nam).
We know 'casualty of war' means someone died.
We don't know if it was the enemy or a civilian
or one of 'our own'.
But, we know someone died.
Still, it doesn't create much of a stir in our hearts.
How about this term, 'Your brother was killed.'
Or this one, 'An innocent child was murdered.'
How does your heart respond to these words?
When you hear the words, 'collateral damage' next,
know that what's really being said is,
'Someone's brother, or father, or sister or daughter was killed'.
And, does it really matter if it was the enemy that killed her
or 'friendly fire' (someone on our side) who killed her???
She's dead.
And that is final.
When words are used by those in authority positions to
change how we perceive reality,
it is called 'propaganda',
which is defined in the dictionary as
'deceptive or distorted information that is systematically spread'.
And why would they do that?
Because those creating the distortion want to change
how we 'see', and ultimately respond to,
events that are happening in our lives.
After all, you might respond differently if you heard
'Your son was murdered.'
than if you heard there was 'collateral damage'.
And, I haven't even gotten to the terms that are
particularly bothersome to me.
I'll cover those in a later post.
Meanwhile, listen carefully to the news reports.
Demystify strange terms like 'collateral damage'.
Discern for yourself what is really being said.
And allow your heart to respond to the real information.
Then, we shall hear the people speak.
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