Trafficking our Language

It seems that I am getting a number of comments from people selling different things. I'm thrilled that they think this blog has such a large readership that it is a good place to hock their cheap S--t (or sell their images).

Yesterday was Human Trafficking Awareness Day. I encourage all of my readers (the lot of you) to find out as much as you can about Human Trafficking and how you can be involved in ending it across the world.

Apropos, (points for SAT word!) I am working with the ABCORI Social Justice Committee (or something like that…. I don’t quiet remember the actual name of the comittee, my good friend roped me into the task) to draft a statement on Human Trafficking for the Rhode Island American Baptists. In preparation I have been reviewing Joerg Rieger’s Remember the Poor; specifically his chapter Authority, Power and the role of the text.

Reiger is using Lucan’s analysis of language as a launching pad for his own work (which is pretty good). I have turned to Reiger’s summary of Lucan partly because I am to lazy to read Lucan for myself, and because Reiger offers an application of Lucan’s work that is germane to my own (why re-invent the wheel?).

Here is the geist of what I found. The idea of the authority of the self is an illusion even though it was an idea embraced by 19th and 20th century liberalism. Through language, an order is created that cannot be controlled. The self is defined by the language used to name and describe the self. Language is in control of the self.

Example: If I call someone a “freak” again and again, even if he is not a “freak,” and doesn’t believe he is a “freak,” the label will have power and control over other’s view of the individual and even over the individual’s view of himself. Think of this in broader terms. We call ourselves Americans, we call ourselves New Englanders, or we call ourselves Christians. Those words have meaning which will vary from context to context and we cannot control those meanings. Others will call us things that we may or may not accept, or may understand differently, but we cannot control the label or the meaning that a specific community attributes to that label. Here we see a later Wittgenstein rearing his head.

Why does this matter in writing a statement on Human Trafficking? It matters because we need to be careful and deliberate in the language we use when talking about the victims, the perpetrators, and our own role (or lack thereof). Rieger suggests that we embrace Biblical language; he may be onto something.

What if we refer to the victims as Rehab, as Rachael, or as Mary? What if we read the passages of Jesus reaching out to the prostitute in this current context?

We need to be careful and deliberate in choosing the words we use. We also need to be aware of the words others use in this issue of Human Trafficking.