The Power of Word During Wartime 

At a tender age of three, my older brother was playing with a pair of scissors and decided to practice on my hair with the scissors. He cut my hair off, all of it. I was young so what did I know?, little did I know I had slow growth. My mum was so pissed at him and yelled at him to the point where he was crying. He was such a bully, he would call me names such as “bald”, “tomboy” and other things.

I would always feel sad because those words got to me. One day, we were playing outside, with my hat on, and the breeze blew it off, my brother burst into laughter when he saw my bald head again, which provoked me so much to throw my little fist at him. The point of the story is that his words provoked me if not persuaded me to do something I did not think of doing and this can be related to Lakoff’s article.

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In “The Power of Words in Wartime” Robin Lakoff logically uses many examples to communicate the impact that words have in combat situations throughout her piece. She also successfully appeals to the reader’s sense of pathos by bringing their values into play. Also, she appeals to theme, the reader through the use of credible sources to state her facts based on scientific and historical researches.

Robin Tolmach Lakoff shares with us her belief in his essay “From Ancient Greece to Iraq; the Power of Words in Wartime” on how words are very powerful especially during wartime.

Lakoff informs us that bullets and weapons are not the only tools of wars but words play their parts too. Military recruits are trained to see their opponents as “the enemy” which makes it easier for them to kill them. She refers to humans as “social animals” therefore, we are wired to feel a sense of compassion towards another human being. To make it easier for combatants during wartime language is created for them to feel superior and in control and seeing the opponent as weak and smaller. Lakoff makes use of historical analysis of how the British called the French “frogs”, Germans were known as “Krauts” which was referred to as smelly food. This is all a war tactic because in human nature it’s hard to kill people, but when you put their name into a derogatory context it makes it easier to vulcanize and kill the enemy. With this being said soldiers are able to identify their enemies and this alone makes then automatically inferior because they are able to see them as someone or thing that needs to be destroyed. However, Lakoff explains how civilians need to realize that killing our enemies are is just and necessary for war, but killing in civilian life will be rightfully punished. He concludes that to fix this problem, we must abolish war itself.

Lakoff’s essays calls attention to the use of disparaging languages used during wartimes. She implies that “humans are social animals and are genetically hardwired to feel compassion toward others.”Therefore she states language has the ability to persuade people and ignore compassion, justifying the killing of their fellow human beings. Lakoff also informs us “bullet and bombs are not the only tools of war. Words, too, play their part.” the words which are used during wars are used to dehumanize their opponent, tricking the soldiers to think they are not like them, making them feel superior and seeing their opponent as inferior. She further explains that their ways do not only affect the soldiers but the civilians too. By instilling fear in the hearts of civilians by using such words as “enemy”, allows people to reassure themselves that this killing is not murder. She concludes by saying “Once language draws that line, all kinds of mistreatment become imaginable, and then justifiable.”

Despite the fact that words are so powerful and persuade the soldiers to kill during war, Lakoff does not support such a dehumanizing method. She argues that humans should not be treated in such manner. In the actual sense, this situation can be related to our everyday lives around the world, for instance, homosexuals are attacked with such negative words like “fag”, teenagers in high school call the less popular kids “DUFF’s”, black people are called “negroes” or “niggas” because some people think the color of your skin makes you less human than they are. This can become a norm in our society. It has been incorporated into people right from a tender age and it is still being used to this age in time. Although many people would agree that using words to make our opponent feel weak is a great way, Lakoff does not support it. She does not support the killing of human beings. It is just causing more harm to us and endangering our lives and if we continue to place an individual against each other we would lose our humanity.

Lakoff becomes more credible when he introduces scientific facts by an Australian ethologist who suggests the more we see others as humans the harder it is to kill them. In my opinion, I do not think words could be that strong to make one kill a fellow human. The manner in which those words are used is what can make a decision whether to kill not. Lakoff makes use of historical context and takes us as far back as world war I and II when the British referred to the Germans as “jerries”, Americans referred to the Japanese as “Japs” and many other collective nouns which were used.

In conclusion, Robin Lakoff logically uses many examples to communicate the impact that words have in combat situations throughout her piece. She also successfully appeals to the reader’s sense of pathos by bringing their values into play. Also, she appeal to the me, the reader through the use of credible sources to state her facts based on scientific and historical researches. From this article I was convinced that words are as powerful a guns and bullets, they are also weapons and can cause great damage if not cautious. Lakoff concludes by providing a way to stop this inhuman act and this is by abolishing war all around the world. This would make the place safer and less killing therefore, treating people with respect and seeing as equal to one.