Tony Morrison´s Nobel Lecture demonstrated a profound argument on the power of language. The recent hate crimes at UC Davis an UC San Diego reveal her point of language’s destructive capability. She states “oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.” She voices an opinion entirely different than the commonly known rhyme “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” In reality, words often have an incredible capability to inflict pain. As Morrison explains, words themselves can be a form of violence, not only a symbol of violent ideas. The spray painted words at UC Davis and the spoken words at UC San Diego caused incredible pain although no physical violence occurred. The words in themselves were acts of ignorance and violence.
Words are powerful because they can be used as a weapon of evil or a source of good. I often fail, but my goal is to filter my language according to Ephesians 2:29 of the Bible. It says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” What a change that would be if the words we used would benefit others rather than tear them down. That is definitely something we should strive for.
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I love how you relate to the nursery rhyme in your response. It really is true that words are a form of violence. Violence doesnt have to be physical; it can be completely verbal.
ReplyDeleteAs for that excerpt from the Bible, it is good advice for me as well. When I speak, I usually speak very bluntly, which gets on peoples nerves and gets people pissed because the truth hurts. I should take the "what is helpful for building others up" part to heart since honest words may not always be good news to someone.
Anyways, jut my 2c
All the stuff that has been going on lately relates directly to the toni morrison speech, which is a little creepy to be honest. The words that people spoke and spray painted hurt and offended thousands maybe more on the larger scale. It is hard to grasp the concept that people can be so ignorant to say such things.
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