Aggression Abounds

Way back when, during the second week of class (seems so long ago!), we spoke of aggression and aggressivity,  referring to the social aspects that compose aggression. More recently, we spoke of  language and words as cultural objects. We went on to discuss how words are related to the social environments in which they are used and how they predetermine the ways we conceptualize life and being. This got me thinking… What are the ways in which the English language dictates how we live and conceptualize our daily lives?

So much of how topics are discussed within the English language seem to involve aggression. One topic that is really interesting with respect to the use of aggressive language is health, specifically pertaining to chronic illnesses. Research on cancer and HIV/AIDS are often phrased as advancing the “War on Cancer” or fighting the “Battle Against HIV and AIDS”. The New York Times actually featured an article fairly recently on this topic in its Health section. The author voices the opinion that words do little to accurately represent the experience of cancer.  In response to this NYT article, this blog post states that the language around cancer (battle, survivor, etc) does carry meaning that is very relevant to the experience. I think it’s interesting and relevant to consider how aggression impacts the experience of illness, especially as we’ve discussed how forceful both intentional and unintentional aggression can be. Thoughts?

 

On another note, the language around breast cancer has changed a lot, as seen through these new awareness-raising techniques. How did this change occur, does it benefit the fight against breast cancer, and are other chronic illnesses also capable of experiencing this change?