The Power of Language

"We suffer from the condition of being addressable. Our emotional openness, she adds, is carried by our addressability. Language navigates this" (49).

How is language hurtful, Claudia Rankine in Citizen. Essentially, what makes language hurtful is its capacity to highlight, rendering people "Hypervisible." Just as Rankine outlines, when someone address someone with hurtful language, they are accentuating someone's being. Rankine writes, "For so long you thought the ambition of racist language was to denigrate and erase you as a person" (49). However, this awful, pervasive language does the opposite, as it is actually exploitative.

How does this language play out in our society today? Language of this caliber is constantly seen in the political arena today, and especially with Donald Trump's hateful speech. With the election currently swinging in Trump's favor, it is hard to imagine how his constant and skewed rhetoric has taken such a hold. His insane and xenophobic language exemplifies language's hateful power. His language highlights and ridicules the lives of immigrants, refugees, the disabled, women, the list goes on. His language does more than just denigrate, it exposes those targeted and creates anxiety. We see the power of language everyday, and we know its ability and Rankine understands and articulates it perfectly. Language is a spotlight, accentuating rather than erasing.