Words have power—even individual words. No one knows this better than news outlets and politicians, among others.
I recently read a short news report on the voter bills that are being proposed around the country. In this particular story, the word “restrictive” was used 9 times. It helped paint the bills in clearly negative terms.
Reading more carefully, I noticed the examples they cited weren’t particularly negative, though my mind, almost involuntarily, began to think that way.
In other words, when we hear the word, “restrictive,” we automatically think of something being unfair or unjust without thinking critically about what is being labeled as restrictive. In many cases, that’s simply the way our culture has used (or misused) particular words as “catch-words” to condition us to think.
Three of the examples they pointed to included “…an omnibus law in Iowa, two laws in Arkansas that tighten voter ID requirements, and one in Utah that mandates swift removal of dead people from the voting rolls.”
Think about that. Those are only “bad” or “negative” if you think it’s a good thing for any human being (legal citizen or not), dead or alive to somehow cast a ballot in the United States. If something isn’t originally restrictive enough, then “restrictions” are good things. Perhaps the problem that needs to be addressed is not looser restrictions but greater (and possibly cheaper) access to legal IDs, or is that not the goal?
It reminds me once again that words are powerful and people like to wield power–quite often for personal gain. The question is usually one of motive (and if power is being used responsibly). You’ll decide that for yourself.
Read carefully. Think critically. Respond accordingly.
