- Feb 1
- 2 min read
Words have always been weapons in the arsenal of power. They've been used to divide us, to diminish others, to reshape our reality in ways that serve those at the top. But here's what makes this moment different: we're starting to see it happen in real time.
Current case in point, DEI. We allowed those who want to preserve their advantages and create divisions in society to subtly persuade ordinary Americans that language like "privilege" is a dismissal of their own struggles. To oligarchs like Musk and Trump who leverage their inherited wealth to power, DEI means “Didn’t Earn It,” which is as laughable as it is damaging. It’s an illustration of how language shapes how we think. Yes, I know what I wrote. It's not only the other way around.
Lera Boroditsky talks about language shaping our perception. She shares an incredible story about the aboriginal Kuuk Thaayorre people in Australia, whose language and world view are framed by the cardinal directions. Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about Native American languages where nouns are only used to describe dead things - that the translation for tree" is "it is being a tree.” Imagine how we'd treat our environment if we viewed it as something other than an object, a commodity.
When we talk about "slaves" instead of "enslaved people," we're reducing human beings to nothing more than their forced condition. We're erasing their humanity. We do the same thing when we use "disabled" as a noun. The genocide of Native American peoples began with language, and erasing their languages was a pillar of the cultural genocide we perpetrated for generations. It's working brilliantly in the case of calling asylum seekers "illegals." That single word transforms people like us, seeking safety, into criminals in our minds.
To further distract us from the actual implications of Jim Crow and the more painful parts of our shared history, racist forces in the GOP manufactured a threat associated with critical race theory, an obscure term in academia that has absolutely no bearing on our ordinary lives. But we need to know our history to understand why equity matters - look up redlining, Wilmington, NC, the Tulsa Massacre, or Roberts Moses.
Maybe the fight for justice, for environmental protection, for human dignity – for democracy itself - is tied to language. When we lose the words to describe injustice, we lose our ability to fight against it. When we lose the language that helps us see the natural world as living and dynamic, we lose our connection to it. When we perceive people as their status or station, we are less likely to be moved to compassion – or action – when they are threatened.
As we allow the powerful to shape our language, so do we allow them to shape our views. It's insidious. And dangerous. And we must resist.
Learn More:
Tearing Down Black America, The Boston Review
Robin Wall Kimmerer Wants to Extend the Grammar of Animacy, Science Friday
Cultural Assimilation of Native Americans, Human Rights Pulse
How languages shape the way we think: TED