The Power of Language

Some people call George Carlin a comedian. I've always called him a philosopher. Most comedians joke about the surface crap that happens to all of us in real life...ie. peanuts on the plane, life cereal, the Burger King drive-thru (Dane Cook sucks by the way, and his comedy is completely indicative of the increasing stupidity of the American public. Good for him for capitalizing on it though...).

Carlin jokes about the real life stuff too but often he digs a few levels deeper than most. He talks about the stuff we don't want to hear. Some say that makes him "shocking" but i just think it makes him honest. He has a platform, and a medium that intends to make people look at things in a humorous way that also makes them agree at the same time, and sometimes he uses that medium to make some very serious points. Even the seven words you can't say on TV, which ended up being a Supreme Court case as vulgar as it is, makes a commentary about what the words are, why some people don't want you to say them, and why language is so powerful that we actual have to ban some of it...

One of my favorite bits ever is when he's talking about the power of language and makes the point that in World War I, when a soldier's nervous system shut down from the strain of fighting, it was called Shell Shock. Tough words...straight to the point...lots of consonants, sounds like something pretty easy to diagnose. Fast forward to Vietnam (and every engagement since) and we're now calling it Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We've added a hyphen, made it sound medical, and we've blamed the victim. The soldiers aren't shocked anymore, they now have a disorder. They weren't shocked by something they saw anymore. Something they saw triggered a disorder they already had. Carlin goes on to make the point that if we have kept it at Shell Shock, maybe we wouldn't treat it so lightly and some of these veterans might actually be getting the help that they need. (Let's see Mr. Cook take a break from Employee of the Month and talk about war for a while eh? Then we'll see who's funny...)

It's a pretty genius sentiment and i truly wish i had thought of it myself. But since i've listened to it about a thousand times, i've started noticing little changes in the language that just seem to slip by unnoticed in this PC world of ours (ie. prostitute becoming sex worker...what's she going to be next? an automated pleasure receptacle?) and trying to call them out when i see them.

I found this story on (who's surprised?) FoxNews this morning: At Least 21 Dead in Baghdad Homicide Bombing

And this same story on the Wall Street Journal Online: Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 21 Iraqis

Notice any difference? Think that that difference in language doesn't change the intention of the story? I would love to hear your thoughts.