Monday, June 03, 2019
The Language of Death
Those of you to whom I am connected on Facebook have already seen this rant, so feel free to surf to some other location if you like.
As a linguist and a lover of language, I am profoundly pissed off by the abject failure of our media reporters to use the correct words.
Last week, the Washington Post and other news outlets both in print and online reported that 12 people were killed in the latest mass shooting in America ... this one in Virginia Beach, about two hours from where I live.
This is false.
People are killed in auto crashes, falls, and swimming accidents. They are murdered in mass murders. It's time our media stopped calling a spade a pointy shovel and reported these horrors for what they are - cold-blooded murder. The use of any other word diminishes the waste of these lives.
And while we're at it, don't call the person who commits such a crime a shooter. This individual is a murderer and a coward. Those who refer to mass shootings are also guilty of failing to use the proper term - mass murder. When we soften the language, we dishonor the memory of those whose lives were brutally taken by a murderer and give a pass to those who honor and respect deadly weapons more than human life.
If you have occasion to write or speak about the next mass murder - and make no mistake, it's coming - use the right words. Don't weasel around. Call the act murder and the person who commits it a murderer. Tell your favorite reporters and commentators to use the right words, too.
Meaningless thoughts and prayers are cheap. Sadly, so is the language we use to mourn the dead.
More thoughts coming.
Bilbo
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8 comments:
Your comments are truly worthy of applause. Too often people mince words and this squanders their meaning.
How many mass murders will we tolerate due to the ready availability of firearms. And why do people need automatic weapons. What next - crew-served weapons?
No, we don't need an aping of Red Dawn,or some of those other weapon-glorifying materials.
It was murder, plain and simple. Let's not varnish what happened.
Absolutely true!
"Shooter" is nonjudgmental in situations in which judgements are reasonable. Shooting people = murder
Shooting targets = recreation.
Absolutely!
YES! You got it.
Outstanding post on an issue germane to our time.
I'm just glad they're using "killed" instead of "lost their lives." They didn't lose their lives, their lives were TAKEN from them.
It's also a wonder that they didn't say "alleged shooter." It's true that an individual is presumed to be innocent until guilt is proven, but when a shooting can be seen over and over and over... on social media, there's no "alleged" about it.
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