10-29-2018, 10:31 PM
(10-29-2018, 12:56 PM)Donovan Wrote: I disagree with this premise. Words absolutely have power, in fact they are more powerful than any weapon mankind can create. Because words convince. Words coerce. And words spur action. Fryguy is speaking like words have no power because, like most of us, his words have little influence over the world.
But the words of the powerful, as we are currently witnessing, can create peace or chaos at will. The Rwandan genocide in the 90's was created purely from radio broadcasts. The German Holocaust was the result of years of propaganda. Our own current situation is the direct result of talking idiots like Alex Jones and Bill O Rielly.
Words have power in the right circumstances. Never doubt.
Absolutely. Sometimes, the pen (or voice) is much mightier than the sword.
The words of the powerful, especially with broad reach and constant repetition, can and do incite atrocious action. As you noted, the evidence of such is abundant throughout history.
When I hear our President -- along with members of the Republican Party and propagandists like Rush Limbaugh and Jeannine Pirro -- whipping up fear/resentment/hate towards "the radical Democratic mob’s Soros-funded criminal migrant caravan en-route to invade America!", the words of one of my favorite thinkers come to mind.
The same prescient words come to mind when I hear/read the reflexive defensiveness and idolizing praise of those who worship President Trump and their political party, without question or reason.
'Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities', Voltaire wrote back in 1765.