How does weaponized, manipulative language transform societal values for independence and impact personal identities?

Answer 1

Hi Maddie,

The purpose of any manipulation is to convince another person that their previously held beliefs are incorrect.

One example of a way to manipulate another person is through the practice of gaslighting. Think of it as someone who continually turns down the lights in a room (turning down a gas lamp) but tells another person the light is constant, it's their perception or eyesight that is affected. The purpose of gaslighting is to convince another person that they are losing their sanity.

How does this transform societal values? On a large scale, if you can convince a large number of people to change their values then society will inevitably shift in its core beliefs and practices. A positive example of this is the Icelandic women's protest in 1975 when every woman in the country went on strike for one day. After this protest, women were given equal wages and equal rights under the law. Though this strike was not manipulation but civil rights protest, you can see the impact of change on societal values. Think about efforts to take away civil rights for one specific group of people: is the language used as a weapon? Is it manipulative? Deceptive? How would that impact independence and personal identities? If your civil rights were taken away, say your right to vote because of another person's manipulative argument, would you feel less independent? Would you feel as though your voice mattered? Would you feel more valued by society or less valued by society?

Good luck with your homework!

Jessica

Answer 2

Hi Maddie,

Language can be weaponized by twisting the belief systems, stereotypes, and/or life circumstances of an individual or group of people, and using those things against them. An example weaponized language is calling liberal leaning people "snowflakes" - which twists positive qualities (such as caring for the common good for all people, supporting the poor, being sensitive to differences, being respectful of others' identities, etc) and weaponizes them as weaknesses (snowflakes melt upon contact). In the same way, the aim of manipulative language is to convince people that something is true by using exaggeration, hyperbole, and/or sensationalization to elicit strong emotions, and attach them to a target. For example, describing any and all black men as "thugs," all immigrants from the southern border as "criminals," and the government as a "deep state" are ways that language has been used recently to manipulate people into believing something that is not true.

It is also known as gaslighting - that is making you believe that what you are seeing is a fault of your own perception; manipulating people to question reality.

In this way, a powerful leader can transform a society by driving a wedge between people, between faiths and belief systems, between political and social groups, between classes. Weaponized language can influence people question their own unique identity and experience. For example, the term Pro-life is a manipulative term that assumes that those who support abortion are the opposite of that - and in fact can be labeled as 'killers'. How has that terminology changed societal values over time? How has it changed laws, and women's health? How has that impacted the independence of personal rights? How does that impact your identity and individual rights?

Good luck with this assignment!

Amy M.

Answer 3

Respect for the individual includes allowing people to reason on the basis of true, accurate information independently of peer pressure or other forms of social manipulation. Lying undermines the ability of the victim to reason accurately. Social manipulation limits the ability of the victim to reason at all by enticing the victim to act upon emotional states that may be irrational and contrary to reason. Such manipulative practices attempt to override the identity of the victim by turning the victim into a tool of the manipulator, so that the victim works toward the goals of the manipulator rather than the goals of the victim.

Almost by definition, weaponized, manipulative language undermines independent thinking. Such language intends to neutralize the logical, critical thinking people use to evaluate claims and information independently. That is, instead of giving a person good reasons to choose rationally a belief or course of action in light of the person’s own life goals, the speaker intends to cause the adoption of a belief or course of action by tapping into irrational emotional responses such as fear, anger, or greed. While the resulting decision my express a momentary, artificially prompted impulse on the part of the victim, it is rarely in line with the victim’s deeply-held values and goals.

Weaponized language is manipulative language that threatens to categorize the victim in terms the victim wants to avoid. An example on the personal level is “If you truly loved me you would do X,” which threatens to categorize the victim as someone who does not truly love the speaker. On a societal (or gang) level, the victims are threatened with being categorized in any number of ways that would lead to ostracism if the label stuck: racist, commie, sexist, Nazi, Feminazi, homophobic, commie, hater, traitor, etc. As above, the goal is to crush the identity and reasoning power of the individual. Here, however, it is in service to a group-shared ethic rather than in service merely to the individual goals of the speaker.