Language+and+Knowledge-+does+language+affect+our+beliefs+and+values?

As an introduction read this article on how language influences our thoughts and beliefs Guardian Article

Biased Language > Biased language contains value judgements. This may be quite obvious when we use certain words, but also quite subtle when other means are used. For example we may call a person with a certain characteristic ‘confident’ (positive) or ‘full of himself’ (negative) depending what impression we want to give. We may also say ‘we have a problem’ (negative) or ‘we are facing a challenge’ (positive). > We can often find out about somebody's assumptions and prejudges by the way she talks. However one should remember that everybody is biased in their own way and that almost everything we say can be regarded as biased by a person who does not share our values. > Using biased language continuously about a certain group of people is a form of discrimination. Because of this in 1990s people started to develop politically correct languagethat would not be offensive to anyone. This led to sometimes amusing and complicated phrases when everything negative was supposed to be expressed in positive terms. > Below are some examples of politically correct terms:  In some ways politically correct language reminds that idea of newspeak in George Orwell's novel 1984. In this book the Ministry of Truth is hoping to change the way people think by removing certain words from vocabulary. [|Newspeak] attempts to eliminate personal thought by restricting the expressiveness of the English language. media type="custom" key="24876792"
 * = Old term ||= Politically correct term ||
 * = bald ||= Folically challenged ||
 * = black ||= African-American ||
 * = blind ||= <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">visually challenged ||
 * = <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">cheating ||= <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">academic dishonesty ||
 * = <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">gang ||= <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">youth group ||
 * = <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">garbage man ||= <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; text-align: center;">sanitation engineer ||

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">

and some more up to date examples: The war on Terrorism Weapons of Mass Destruction National Security Agency.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Another interesting aspect of biased language is how we speak about ourselves. Everybody wants to see themselves in a positive light. The British philosopher Bertrand Russell has illustrated this in his funny ‘conjugations of irregular adjectives’


 * I am firm
 * you are obstinate
 * he is a pig-headed fool


 * I am precise
 * you are pedantic
 * he is incredibly picky


 * I am ambitious
 * you are only out for your own advantages
 * he rides rough-shod over his fellow man

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Finally, to wrap up our journey to the world of politically correct language, let's see an example of a politically correct bed time story. Try to spot as many differences as you can.

Language and Knowledge. How we ask a question influences the answer we get Questionairres: