Word Up

Words matter, despite the admonishment in the children's schoolyard rhyme.

Christians believe that God spoke the world into being and Jesus is described as the Word.

Words matter because they articulate feelings and communicate ideas; they can create or they can destroy.

Over the past few weeks Nicky and I have been discussing how the use of particular words are being used to influence social thinking.

Here's today's blatant example of words being misused in order to promote a political agenda - animal rights activists, PETA, are trying to make people refer to fish as 'sea kittens'.

And they have developed a game so you can create your own 'sea kitten' from cartoon avatars of flounder, tuna, salmon and trout.

Crazy? Perhaps. Effective? Quite possibly as this comment shows:

I love the idea! Fish get the short end of the stick so often because they aren't cute and cuddly. I love that PETA is suggesting this. And I love that everyone is taking it so seriously. I mean, c'mon! Are you all afraid that someone's gonna come along and tell you that you can't eat fish? Poor you! Think about how it would feel getting hooked through the jaw, dragged into a place where you can't breathe, then having your neck broken. All so someone who doesn't need to can eat you. Real considerate.

Posted by: Glenn Gaetz of 2:44pm today

A very typical reaction of someone whose world view has been influenced into believing that harvesting a protein-rich food resource is the equivalent to killing a family pet.

Worse still, it is the world view of someone who sees no moral difference between killing a human being and killing an animal.

Words matter.

Mum's The Word
1 Shot Vodka
1 Shot Cherry Brandy
3 Shots Orange Juice
Shake all ingredients together with ice and strain into a martini glass.

-- Nora