Who wants everything to be plain and mundane with no excitement or twists whatsoever? This sounds pretty boring, uneventful and predictable to me. That is why we have to spice things up a bit, especially in our language. It’s like when they say it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. I remember when I saw the move The Pursuit of Happyness, there was a scene where the father and his son had to spend the night in a subway station bathroom. But instead of making it a negative thing the father turned it into an adventure for his son. The way we describe things definitely does affect how people react to the information we give them and how they perceive us. Charged language can create misunderstandings as well and hurt other’s feelings if we were to come off the wrong way. Uncharged language does provide us a safe way to express our feelings and what we are trying to communicate but it does not give us the big picture, or the reality of what we are truly getting into.
I have been working for the bank for several years and I have noticed the use of charged language every day. We use it every day to motivate ourselves and others to do what we need them to do. We have a wide range of responsibilities from sales goals to operational policies that must be followed and met. In order to motivate people to get the job done we have numerous emails, meetings, and events to get the point across. Without the use of charged language there would be no change that we would be able to meet our objectives and goals and would end up in a potentially bad situation.
I’ll never forget that scene in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness because it was a dark moment in that father’s life because he had reached the day where he was unable to put a roof over his son’s head for one night in his life. This was tough for him to swallow as it would be for anyone but he didn’t want his son to see the defeat that he felt. He chose to use some charged language to get his son’s attention away from the fact that they were going to sleep in the bathroom by playing an imaginary game with his son. He had to use a lot of charged words and language to get his son to play along and forget all about where they were going to be spending the night.
Charged language does have its downfalls because it can create numerous misunderstandings and confusion if it is taken the wrong way. We could go through life not using this type of language and keeping everything plain. We also good not put any toppings on our pizza, never move, never travel, never take any risks, never fall in love, and keep everything nice and safe. But no one wants that even if they say they do. To get the true experience and meaning of whatever we are doing in life, we will need to use charged language to describe and to sell it to whomever we are explaining it to.
I love that you compared not using charged language with having no toppings on my pizza and not moving...that made me smile because who would want that? I think charged language is a tricky thing because, as you said, you can definitely offend someone, but more than that, you could stray from the main point by being biased and leading the reader to focus on something less important.
ReplyDeleteA good example that I read was to imagine a columnist reporting on story about a child who shot his friend. The columnist could say "A twelve year old boy, abused and neglected by his parents since birth, has shot his best friend in a fearful frenzy this morning in Lancaster." The columnist' language is charged and completely persuades the reader to think of the child as a victim of his parents' abuse. That same columnist could write "An adolescent male has shot an innocent bystander, while rebelling against his family, this morning in Lancaster". This charged language persuades the reader that the boy is the opposite, a criminal who is filled with anger.
Charged language is so tricky because it has the power to do what I demonstrated above. It all depends on the writer and their intent. Again, critical thinking plays a role in a situation with charged language. Knowing the author, what they believe, and why they have written this piece, are good ways to become aware of the charged language in the piece that could be harmful. Of course, as you mentioned, there are many cases where charged language is beneficial and can bring happiness to many people. Let's hope this is the case most often.