Video: George Carlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o25I2fzFGoY
Video: Dog Whistles: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-46922909
Video: Trump’s Use of Language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5T5Q9yzXnQ&t=1s
READING: How Does Trump Use Coded Language to Speak to His Base? : https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2020/october/election-trump-code-mcintosh.html
DISCUSSION: How Language Shapes Our Perception
After you’ve read the three articles, what did you learn about how language shapes—or has the potential to shape – the way we think about the world? You can refer to a specific point or idea that one or more of the authors made.
how language shapes our perception Daniel Tikhomirov ( classmate)
after reading the articles and watching the videos that correspond to the same idea, language shapes the way we think about the world in a very simple, yet very complicated way. It is the idea to repetition, constant reinforcement, and feeding that shape the way people in our society perceive the world, but the alteration such a perception can be, in fact, true and can be very false as well. depending on the situation our society picks out special words that may or may not make a certain situation look better. For example, when describing a person that is a felon and committed a crime and went to jail, if we use the phrase, “that person was in jail,” it brings a negative connotation, however if we we say, “he was incarcerated,” this phrase brings just a slight shine of light compared to the previous phrase. Our words can put such philosophical thinking into our heads that its gotten to the point where we could manipulate peoples lives and question even if everything they heard in life is true, which is the basis of confusion. A great example of how language shapes how we perceive reality is Donald Trump. He used the most simplistic terms to objectify something in an extreme way, however people outside of Donald Trump’s reality only see the simplistic terms, not the extreme way he is utilizing them. Which goes to show, by philosophic means, his phrases put a lot of thought into people’s heads, and when it is repeated constantly that idea is stuck inside the mind disk of our brains. On top of that, from the information that is already present from trumps speeched, when real evidence of support for his information comes into the picture, then that just reinforces the information that is already been stored dating back to the first or second speech presented. It is not the words that are used explicitly, it is the way we perceive these words. In conclusion, the main way language shapes our perception is that the language is a trigger for our brain to interpret however it may seem fit, and that is very dangerous, because the perception of the mind can stretch infinitely. Since, we are entitled to our own opinion and our perception strecthes to almost the farthest points on the ocean, there an arising need to manipulate that aspect of humility and human nature.
For this week’s journal assignment, you will elaborate on the same subject as the online discussion. After you’ve participated in and read everyone’s comments, develop an argument about what the readings tell us about how language shapes the way we think. You can concentrate on article or point if you’d like. Remember that this is not a formal paper, but a journal entry in which you can informally discuss and develop your ideas. But be specific!
