Even though language has become an integrated part of our lives, most of us do not pause to consider the importance in which it plays in our perception of the world around us. Language is a product of social norms, tradition, culture, and even history. In fact, many historians have even found evidence of geographical migrations of populations using a method of comparative linguistics, such as comparing Sanskrit to Germanic languages to find that populations have moved from India to Europe in ancient times. It goes without saying that language plays a role in creating and reinforcing social distinctions, if only through our subconscious.
In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell illustrated the importance of language in the way we subconsciously “think” through a simple experiment. In this experiment, Americans were asked to associate race with characteristics. The first category was “white” and “bad,” the other was “black” and “good.” The Americans were then given words such as “intelligent,” “European,” “amazing,” “uneducated,” and “abysmal,” and told to put them into the correct categories as fast as possible. Many people found that they had a lot of trouble with this because they, through some form of subconscious brain activity, found it much more difficult to associate “black” with “good” and “white” with “bad.” This is not because they truly believed that African Americans were inferior. In fact, Gladwell himself was half “black” as well as an extremely successful writer, but still had the same problem. This is simply because people’s minds are influenced by language, such as newspapers, magazines, and television, through subconscious ways. Even after generations of washing down the derogatory languages used to describe minority races, a form of exclusion still exists. If a child is told that all rats are evil, then he or she will subconsciously categorize rats with evil, and will have a difficult time later in life associating rats with “goodness.”
Of course, in reality, the issue is much more serious than evil rats. In the Rwanda genocide, for example, this form of subconscious brain washing was used by the Tutsis through radio and other forms of propaganda to incite the murder of more than 800,000 Hutus. In Germany, Nazi beliefs of a “supreme race” and the inferiority of the Jewish population led to the Holocaust. Even today, subtle forms of language distinctions still exist. Take a look at the gender issue, for example. While it is perceived as a compliment to be called, “manly” or use phrases like “man it up,” being called “girly” or “a woman” is definitely derogatory. Even though we think that these are simply humorous phrases we use with our friends, it still, on some subconscious level, suggests to us that woman are inferior to men in some way. This extends into real life through the male domination of the work force, politics, and in essence, society. An interviewer may not believe in his or her heart that women are inferior to men, but these subtle associations their minds have with women being inferior to men may pop up and give job applicants a severe disadvantage.
Language is like the building blocks of a civilization. A story in the Bible even told of how God decided to stop the building of a tower by making everyone speak different languages. Without it, an effective and cooperative society simply would not exist. Thus, language is a very power tool. Through subconscious ways, it can create class, gender, and racial distinctions. Perhaps it is not so bad that we have euphemisms for the handicapped, the elderly, and the disadvantaged. This way, in our minds, we automatically associate them with the respect that they deserve.
Interesting article! It definitely made me think! I liked the example of "evil rats". I completely agree, language is an integral aspect of our society, and how we choose to use it may cause consequences that become embedded in our culture, so we must always try to be aware!
I am intrigued but I am inclined to disagree. I always held a strong disdain for euphemisms. I felt that they generally fail to solve the basic problem of discrimination and are poor palliative solutions.
Note for example the progression of how handicapped people are described.
lame → crippled → handicapped → disabled → physically challenged → differently able
Each euphemism sounds progressively better than the last one. However, notice that a new one is always needed, because sooner or later, the previous euphemism gathers a negative connotation and needs to be replaced. Inherent prejudice is not removed despite the use of better words.
I always thought that the creation of an euphemism only serves to disguise the root problem of discrimination by choosing another word that doesn't seem so discriminatory at the time. I believe that we need to actually tackle the problem and eliminate the need for euphemisms in the first place.
So let me concede that euphemisms have a temporary role in preventing blatant outright discrimination. However, I dream of a world where euphemisms are no longer useful nor necessary.
Sorry Tim, but I have to disagree with you. It is not a spurious correlation between euphemisms and discrimination. Despite the filtered reality of of our values and expectations affecting what we comprehend and see, they do not determine what we entirely see. It is rather the extent of these words and the meaning we give to them.
Euphemisms seek to minimize the impact that discriminatory words cause. It is rather a tribute of respect, and acknowledgment of these conditions that we create euphemisms. For example when you describe a situation that may be "lame", you are affecting those that are. Describing something is "handicapped" on the other hand, recognizes their condition and that we adhere to them respectfully.
Finally, we are able to understand and how to proceed, by knowing what others mean and knowing how others interpret our own meaning. We appreciate someone else's view. You reflect upon these ideas of positive meaning given to these words. Euphemism are the recognition of an individual's part that instead are an effort to stop the discrimination.