Friendly Fire and the Frightening Power of Language – Saying vs. Doing

I am against war. I am against violence. I am also against the absurd and deliberately passive language that is now commonly used to describe aggressive action. Today there is a headline in The Guardian that reads “Afghanistan ‘friendly fire’ inquest hears of US bomb error.” That means that an American plane dropped a 500lb bomb on a British station and blew apart the bodies of three British men. It was an accident. They meant to blow up the bodies of some Afghani men. Apparently the families of the British soldiers are looking for ‘total transparency’ from the inquest. This means they would like the Ministry of Defence to tell them the truth and not to hide things or lie.
The softening of language helps to desensitise, the misuse of language acts to confuse, the corruption of language has the power to condition our human response.
It’s often said that talk is cheap. It can be incredibly costly. As this short piece this morning just reminded me. I love the power of language. But it frightens me too.