4 ms·

No, they change the meaning of language. Language is never living on an island. It lives with the users and the uses of it. By misusing the language, bending an

No, they change the meaning of language. Language is never living on an island. It lives with the users and the uses of it. By misusing the language, bending and caricaturing it, they corrupt it. Do you not realize it?

sliverstorm 13y ago
That's an artful phrasing, but an implication that your point 'is obvious' as the cornerstone of your argument is unconvincing. I postulate that artful, metaphorical, or misleading uses of language is both neither misuse nor bending it, and I would like a clearer explanation of what a corrupted language looks like, aside from "being corrupt".
- PythonicAlpha 13y ago
  I give you one example: Because torture is forbidden, the US government just renamed the things they did to the prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo, just not naming it torture. Or because if the people in Guantanamo where soldiers they would have special rights and the other way around, if they where not, they should get a normal trial. So they just called them other names just to disguise that what they do is not right! That is corrupting the language. And I even see it in Germany. Because the basic rights (like free speech) are defined in our constitution and "security" is not among them, our former secretary of the interior said this would be a "super basic right" -- thus also putting security above all basic rights ... and giving our rights in the hands of the NSA. By this way, they corrupt our language and our thinking. Defining everything that way, how they pleasure and how they can betray us!
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    To my eyes, that's a sign of a weak rule of law, not anything to do with language.
    - PythonicAlpha 13y ago
      It is just a question of viewpoint. What they do is, they try to change thinking and confuse what is acceptable in the society. Language aside, it is a sign of a weak society in my opinion, because they are allowed to goon with this.
    - grey-area 13y ago
      To call torture 'enhanced interrogation' avoids the use of the word torture because it has negative connotations, and tries to normalise torture by association with an accepted practice (interrogation), after all interrogation is what you do to prisoners isn't it? It's a clear distortion of language to hide the truth; it has everything to do with language and the use of it, as it deliberately twists meaning in order to limit the thoughts of people who accept this term to describe certain actions. As Wittgenstein put it: The limits of my language mean the limits of my world
      - PythonicAlpha 13y ago
        Very good point here. Wittgenstein is right: By limiting (or bending) the language, also bending the thinking is done. I also see it in my own country, how language is used to bend the (acceptable) thinking in the society and to brainwash people.

sliverstorm 13y ago

That's an artful phrasing, but an implication that your point 'is obvious' as the cornerstone of your argument is unconvincing. I postulate that artful, metaphorical, or misleading uses of language is both neither misuse nor bending it, and I would like a clearer explanation of what a corrupted language looks like, aside from "being corrupt".

PythonicAlpha 13y ago
I give you one example: Because torture is forbidden, the US government just renamed the things they did to the prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo, just not naming it torture. Or because if the people in Guantanamo where soldiers they would have special rights and the other way around, if they where not, they should get a normal trial. So they just called them other names just to disguise that what they do is not right! That is corrupting the language. And I even see it in Germany. Because the basic rights (like free speech) are defined in our constitution and "security" is not among them, our former secretary of the interior said this would be a "super basic right" -- thus also putting security above all basic rights ... and giving our rights in the hands of the NSA. By this way, they corrupt our language and our thinking. Defining everything that way, how they pleasure and how they can betray us!
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  To my eyes, that's a sign of a weak rule of law, not anything to do with language.
  - PythonicAlpha 13y ago
    It is just a question of viewpoint. What they do is, they try to change thinking and confuse what is acceptable in the society. Language aside, it is a sign of a weak society in my opinion, because they are allowed to goon with this.
  - grey-area 13y ago
    To call torture 'enhanced interrogation' avoids the use of the word torture because it has negative connotations, and tries to normalise torture by association with an accepted practice (interrogation), after all interrogation is what you do to prisoners isn't it? It's a clear distortion of language to hide the truth; it has everything to do with language and the use of it, as it deliberately twists meaning in order to limit the thoughts of people who accept this term to describe certain actions. As Wittgenstein put it: The limits of my language mean the limits of my world
    - PythonicAlpha 13y ago
      Very good point here. Wittgenstein is right: By limiting (or bending) the language, also bending the thinking is done. I also see it in my own country, how language is used to bend the (acceptable) thinking in the society and to brainwash people.