The Awesome Power of Words

Here’s some free advice …

If you ever get involved in a battle of ideas, choose your words very, very carefully. Fuss over them, obsess over them, and keep refining them until you get them just right.

Because, with just a few well-chosen words, you can seize the high ground in an argument and put your opponents permanently on the defensive.

To illustrate my point, I offer two examples of the brilliant use of words to seize the high ground in political controversies. In my usual fair-minded manner, I offer one example from the political right, and one from the left.

Example #1: Groups opposed to abortion have labeled themselves the Right to Life movement. Brilliant! Argue against the right to life and you would seem to be arguing in favor of death. Also, by seizing the high ground as defenders of life, anti-abortion advocates have reduced abortion advocates to arguing in favor of choice, a much less emotionally charged and motivating word than life itself.

Example #2: The Gay Rights movement labels opponents homophobic. Brilliant! That scientific-sounding term suggests that anyone who disagrees with the movement is suffering from an irrational fear – a psychological malady! Which, in turn, can intimidate you into keeping your disagreements to yourself, lest you reveal your "illness" to the world.

Whether you agree or disagree with the postions of the Right to Life and Gay Rights movements, you can learn from their awesome use of the awesome power of words.