When Vicious Language Leads To Violent Behavior
And what to do about it. An old model guides us to speak out against new (and not-so-new) threats.
WORDS
Words are powerful little things. They inspire us, they motivate us, they connect us to one another. They educate, they influence and persuade. They preserve our history and promote social change and progress. They also cut, divide, denigrate and destroy.
Prejudicial language, jokes, and images have profound negative effects but many people — particularly those in dominant groups — tend to ignore or downplay this. They excuse this language in the U.S. by pointing to the First Amendment. Commonly, people also see it as harmless. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” may sound good, but modern psychology shows that’s a bigger lie than the tooth fairy. The algorithms of social media and artificial intelligence (AI) can intensify bias and its negative impacts.
In her recent essay on how racist language perpetuates violence, writer and scholar Allison Wiltz lays out historical, current and evolving examples of racial epithets and stereotypes. She connects them to the disproportionate violence that Black people face in the U.S.