The Importance of Language

The Importance of Language

Abstract

Of all possible human qualities, the one that wields the most power is the ability to use, understand and communicate effectively through language. A proficient use of language allows us to clearly communicate an exact idea from one person to another person or group of people. Being able to convey exactly what you want is a science, and it helps create the ability to gain immense power. The power of language has been demonstrated throughout history, but most people more readily understand this when it is applied to more modern leaders. The words of such leaders as Abraham Lincoln, Adolph Hitler, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Regan quickly come to mind. This essay will demonstrate how important and powerful language can be.  

The Importance of Language

An important link between language and power is persuasion. The power of persuasion is so strong it allows certain individuals to influence, and therefore, control, thousands, even millions, of people, and it binds them together in search of one common cause. This tactic of persuasion is also called propaganda. The Nazi government of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was very adept at propaganda. In order to gain power, Adolf Hitler used his ability to tell each audience what it wanted to hear. He stirred fears of communism when talking to businessmen and preached the values of socialism when talking to factory workers.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected to the office of President after only four nationally televised debates against Vice President Richard Nixon. It was generally conceded that these debates helped Kennedy more than Nixon. In April of 1961, after Russia successfully launched the first man into outer space, President Kennedy asked for a greatly increased budget for space research. Kennedy said, powerfully, "I believe that this nation should commit itself, to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to the earth" (John F. Kennedy, 1961). Kennedy is considered to have been a driving force behind the mission to the moon, which was successful in 1969. It was the power of his language that made the trip possible. In his inaugural speech (Sorensen, 1960), it was Kennedy who coined the phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" . This became the battle cry for the American way of life.

Almost a century earlier, on September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued a public statement that he later called "the central act of my administration, and the greatest event of the nineteenth century” (Lincoln, 1862). Although his statement, the “Emancipation Proclamation”, did not give one single slave his freedom, the written document held a great deal of power and had an enormous impact on the history of the United States. It serves as a further example of the power and importance of language.

        But what about those who do not have the power of language to the extent of Lincoln or Kennedy? What about the tens of thousands of illiterate Americans who cannot even read the words of these great men? In the essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society" (Kozol, 2010), the author describes the plight of illiterate people in America. I have seen firsthand what the author describes. Having worked in the home service insurance industry for twenty-five years, I experienced many occasions where an elderly client, usually black, and usually very poor, needed help with a letter or a bill of some sort. They trusted very few people to give them the truth of what was contained in the envelope. If one were to be asked to read or "explain" the document, it was seen in many circles as a term of endearment. It showed how much they trusted us to tell them the truth and not reveal their secret of illiteracy to anyone. 

        I was shocked when I read that "the number of illiterate adults exceeds by 16 million the entire vote cast for the winner in the 1980 presidential election. If even one third of all illiterates could vote, and read enough to do sufficient math to vote in their self-interest, Ronald Reagan would not likely have been chosen president" (Kozol, 2010, p. 252). I knew there was a large number of illiterates, especially in the South, but for there to be 16 million more than all the votes cast to elect Reagan was truly an eye-opener for me. I knew that these people were helpless when it came to reading their own mail, but to now understand just how many facets of everyday life have been affected by their illiteracy gives me a much deeper understanding of their plight.