1. Christian Ethics in a Postmodern World
Language is something that is extremely important but it must be properly used to be understood correctly. By comparing the stories Dehumanizing People and Euphemizing War and When Words Go to War, it was noticed how both stories talk about topics very similar but they are portrayed very differently. In one story, words are used so that the truth is being kept from the reader and in the other story the truth is being told but in some cases not directly, the reader must examine thoroughly what is written to know what exactly is being said. Even though both stories are about war the language used interprets war differently.
Killing other human beings is something that should not be happening any where in the world today yet people are saying that "destroying other human beings [is] rationalized and justified" (Bosmajian paragraph 12). In the war when someone is killed it should say simply that they were killed instead of using the same phrase in other words. The language used should be understood by all in the same way, instead of being said and then people have to figure out what the person means by that. The language used in this story hides the truth many times by using terms that people are not familiar with such as "regrettable by-products" which means that civilians are killed by mistake. The truth should be told to the people because they deserve to know what is going on.
The language used in When Words Go to War is more correct then the other story but it is not too much better. Even though they are not hiding the truth they are not really saying it either. They mention pretty much everything that happens in the war but when it comes to harsh things they are trying to hide it, but having letters stand for phrases, as if people will be less disgusted when they hear it this way. A perfect example of this would be the letters KIA, not that many people would know what that means if they seen it.