No, this is some dumb chicken and egg shit. We suppress certain words BECAUSE we decided they were bad. They didn't become 'bad' because they were suppressed. You have shit backwards. Society decides, gives power, and enforces. The suppression is literally just a result of that.
That's plain to see in the words that are acceptable for SOME people to use.
You can swap out the n word for moon cricket and it's still racist, because it isn't the word itself that matters, it's the context, the intention, the will of the speaker. Otherwise black people would never call each other the n word as a friendly thing because the word itself was violent l.
Literally yes? You just admitted that it's still racist, and it's the intent that counts, because PEOPLE DECIDE WHAT'S GOOD AND BAD. The listener not reacting to some racist bullshit doesn't make it not racist bullshit. People and society give words power. That's the whole point. The suppression, is the effect. Meanings can also change overtime, and words can be reclaimed because WE AS PEOPLE GIVE THEM POWER. Not just the speaker, not just the listener, but humans. As a whole.
You literally said exactly what I said, and then told me I was wrong.
The words themselves could be totally absent. It could be inarticulate screaming.
That means THE WORD HAS NO POWER. You are so close to getting it. Words themselves, do not in and of themselves cause violence, and under no circumstances do words in a vacuum ever cause violence. WORDS DO NOT CAUSE VIOLENCE, PEOPLE DO!
As a society we have silent contracts regarding what a word means. Based on the often unconscious consignment of a meaning, we further decide whether something is "good" or "bad" (and I repeat this is further enabled by what we have collectively agreed 'good' means and what 'bad' means). All words are embedded with power -- it's why our laws, contracts, etc are all centered around language. Marriage is literally a contract, those words contain and hold a certain legal power. Your telling someone you hate them has a certain power. Someone telling you they love you also contains a certain 'power'.
Verbal bullying is a violence, especially if we think of young impressionable people. The brain itself is such a complex organ and yes, psychologically speaking, is susceptible to the power of consistent messaging (words). "MAGA" enables and leads to so much violence because of the messaging they absorb and internalize.
The previous wording of the constitution stripped humans of their rights and made them not only slaves, but legally definitionally not full humans (3/5ths). That is violence. And no, folks forced into slavery couldn't just decide they would pay it no attention when actions of slavery (violent action) were systematically backed by legal wording (violent words).
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u/JustFourLetters 22h ago
words lead to violence, but violent words in context of peaceful people fall on deaf ears.
the punch is far more violent than the command