Stop abusing words
On the news today is an article about a maths a-level exam being so difficult the pupils said that it was ‘ like a war crime’
How dare they ! We must assume that a- level maths students are reasonably bright so to abuse language in this way is even more deplorable.
The next item on the news was about the commemoration of the D-Day landing and those brave soldiers who changed the course of the war. The difference in the generations could not be more clear.
This debasement of certain words and phrases has rendered them useless. Genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, starvation, all are bandied about with abandon and without any reflection on their meaning. To victims of these crimes, this is a slap in the face. But worse when actual war crimes happen, it is a case of crying wolf. Fatigue over these words allows those perpetuating real war crimes to carry on without challenge. And not just fatigue, real dehumanisation of a country fighting to protect its citizens. Repetition of words are akin to telling a lie and tell it often and loud enough and it sticks.
Words have always been a way of expressing how our world works and words can change the world. Genocide was a specific word brought into being after the Holocaust, it is an exceptional word for an exceptional crime. It is not war, it is not civilians dying, it is not something to call Jews who want to live. I have been called it more times than I ever thought in the last 30 months. One man insists on referring to me as ‘ genocide Jayne’ which I joke that as a superhero name it leaves something to be desired. It is normally accompanied by other insults and libels. I have never murdered anyone in my life, let alone for their race. Certainly not the 850,Ooo a man in Scarborough accused me of murdering in 1948, before I was born.
Genocide has been abused as much as the word ‘Zionist’ which I have argued should now be a defunct word. It was the movement to create a Jewish state in our homeland and we have that- no need for the word. But Zionist has become a useful tool for the cowards who don’t say Jew.
So when I hear that because some a- level students found an exam too hard , it begets belief that they can equate it with those that are victims of war crimes. Not war per-se but crimes above what is needed to prosecute war. These children will soon be active in our country’s future. They need to learn to use their words with care and precision. They should have learnt that already. I am appalled.
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there is such a need to be a victim that this is ridiculous. If the test was too hard it means you didnt study hard enough, not that someone was out to get you. The entitlement of this generation that life is supposed to be easy is so obnoxious.