A few days ago, we heard about yet another executive order from President Donald Trump. And this was yet another addition to the previous orders regarding the names of places, straits, countries, and practically everything that can be renamed.
Airports, banks, statues, and memorials—it seems there’s an unstoppable frenzy behind this insane movement, which lacks any direction or comprehensible rationale.
But isn’t there actually a strategy that he or his administration is putting in place?
DT’s latest executive order was to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” And this came in line with the recent tariffs imposed on Canada.
And it has become a political battle. Those who have started calling the lake “Lake America” are seen as fervent supporters of President Trump, while those who continue to call it “Lake Ontario” are viewed as part of the resistance to the MAGA movement.
This struggle and battle over classification is not merely a linguistic issue. A country’s language and official tongue are much more than a means of communication or a conveyance of facts.
That language can, in fact, be an act of power and authority.
When someone is forced to say “Persian Gulf” or “Arabian Gulf,” or, conversely, “Kyiv” or “Kiev,” or even “Lake Ontario” or “Lake America,” you’re forcing them into a specific set of broad geopolitical, financial, and economic assumptions related to that very name!
Names really do matter!
The words we use reflect and define how we express ourselves to the world around us. It is the way we interact and convey to others what we are thinking or what we mean. If a people is decimated through war and a language is banned from use—as has been happening in the Crimea region since 2014—it is, in effect, genocide and the eradication of a people’s self-determination.
Someone who is forced to use certain words—or forbidden from saying others in public, such as words related to “war”—is, in fact, being manipulated and coerced into acceptance by all those who oppress them.
They are being forced to shape what they see and feel according to the mindset of those who dominate them and seek to decimate them.
Therefore, if we control the language and dialect of a people or a society, we are directly and indirectly controlling their thoughts and actions.
And there is no GREATER power than that!
The names we use, the labels we employ to define or describe acts or objects, ultimately define how far we are willing to accept things or the limit beyond which we will not raise a protest or offer resistance.
Image by Kris from Pixabay
Original text written by 
Source for this post: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Bourdieu