language
Words as One Root of Killing
by Rachel MacNair One of the books we recommend that’s foundational for understanding the consistent life ethic is one that William Brennan wrote called Dehumanizing the Vulnerable. The first edition had the subtitle: When Word Games Take Lives. A later edition had the subtitle: The War of Words against Victims. Both subtitles give the connection:…
Where Violence Begins
by Rachel MacNair The planetarium presentation, as usual, was beautiful. Yet there was a disquieting aspect to the language used. Stars were “dying.” Why not “being transformed”? These stars did something in a “desperate” attempt to prevent this. How can an inanimate object be desperate? One star taking material from another star was “cannibalizing.” …