{"id":26992,"date":"2013-03-25T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=26992"},"modified":"2023-05-22T08:59:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T07:59:03","slug":"a-lexicon-of-war-redux-does-excessive-word-use-result-in-a-loss-of-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/03\/a-lexicon-of-war-redux-does-excessive-word-use-result-in-a-loss-of-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lexicon of \u201cWar (Redux):\u201d Does Excessive Word Use Result in a Loss of Meaning?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A few days ago, overwhelmed by the endless violence and wars in our world, I wrote a brief and simple email to a number of Listservs where I listed a number of different adjectives preceding the word \u201cwar.\u201d\u00a0 I did this somewhat impulsively as a catharsis for my own angst and anger at the fact that \u201cwars\u201d and violence had become commonplace.\u00a0 In one way or another, the word \u201cwar\u201d had become part of our daily vernacular and popular culture. We had arrived at a place in language where virtually any conflict, disagreement, or contention was being labeled \u201cwar.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stated I was concerned that extensive number and widespread use of adjectives preceding the word \u201cwar\u201d would somehow make us immune to its meaning — its horrible and tragic meaning.\u00a0 As a result, we would find ourselves accustomed to its use, and habituated to its significance. I felt under these circumstances, national policies and decisions regarding war could then be pursued without a full recognition or awareness of consequences. As we have seen, it is easy to start a war, and difficult to end one. \u00a0When \u201cwar\u201d in actuality, or in linguistic use, becomes a reflexive response to any contention, we are closed to other solutions.<\/p>\n

Along the way of my explorations, I added with some degree of cynicism, that there were even \u201cfutile wars.\u201d\u00a0 I noted this term seems to have escaped the vocabulary of our politicians. \u00a0A few years ago, I published an article entitled: The United States of America: A \u201cCulture of War.\u201d <\/i>\u00a0I proposed that a cultural ethos had developed that was socializing war as a way-of-life in our society. \u00a0I have attached a graphic figure from this article that captures the complexity of this processes involved as back and forth across ethos, macrosocial institutions, microsocial institutions, and individual psychological levels of organization and influence. \u00a0We had become a society in which \u201cwar\u201d was now considered an acceptable — even reflexive \u2013 response to disagreements.<\/p>\n

As I proceeded with these thoughts, I began to list the different kinds of \u201cwar,\u201d that had become part of our language use. \u00a0I added a request to readers to make any additions they felt were appropriate.\u00a0 I expected only a few.\u00a0 But, in fact, email brought many replies that offered additions. We had, indeed, from a sociolinguistic perspective, developed a massive \u201clexicon of wars.\u201d And, in my opinion, because of our indiscriminate use of the term \u201cwar,\u201d we had become immune to its meaning.<\/p>\n

I must admit, as I gathered the terms, I found myself \u201cshocked\u201d by the widespread use of the word \u201cwar.\u201d\u00a0 Was it possible that within the context of our global era, replete with its increased inter-dependencies, we had come to find the tensions of competition for resources and survival itself, pushing us toward \u201cwars\u201d at all levels of interactions. In my opinion, a \u201cversus\u201d mentality had arisen that was pitting different people, organizations, nations, and products against one another in a win-lose arena. The tragedy of this situation, as we all know, is that there are never winners and losers in any war, only casualties and lifetime legacies of sadness, anger, and revenge. Thus, I share with you now, an updated and more comprehensive \u201clexicon of wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Table 1: \u00a0A Lexicon of Wars<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

bank wars,<\/p>\n

biological wars,<\/p>\n

border wars<\/b><\/p>\n

cab wars<\/b><\/p>\n

cancer wars<\/b><\/p>\n

civil wars,<\/p>\n

cold wars<\/p>\n

colonial wars<\/b><\/p>\n

communication wars <\/b><\/p>\n

corporate wars,<\/p>\n

culture wars,<\/p>\n

cyber wars,<\/p>\n

diet wars<\/b><\/p>\n

drug wars<\/b><\/p>\n

endless wars<\/b><\/p>\n

ethnic wars<\/p>\n

family wars<\/b><\/p>\n

financial wars,<\/p>\n

food wars<\/b><\/p>\n

gang wars<\/p>\n

gas wars<\/b><\/p>\n

gasoline wars,<\/p>\n

girl wars<\/b><\/p>\n

global wars<\/b><\/p>\n

happy wars<\/b><\/p>\n

holy wars<\/b><\/p>\n

hot wars<\/p>\n

ideological wars<\/p>\n

just wars (jus ad bellum<\/i>)\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

language wars<\/p>\n

low-intensity wars<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 media wars\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

neighbor wars<\/p>\n

nuclear wars<\/p>\n

oil wars<\/b><\/p>\n

parking wars<\/b><\/p>\n

pizza wars<\/b><\/p>\n

price wars<\/p>\n

product wars,<\/p>\n

race wars<\/b><\/p>\n

regional wars,<\/p>\n

religious wars<\/b><\/p>\n

resource wars<\/b><\/p>\n

restaurant wars<\/b><\/p>\n

secret wars<\/p>\n

shadow wars,<\/p>\n

star wars<\/b><\/p>\n

tribal wars<\/b><\/p>\n

unjust wars<\/p>\n

war to end war<\/p>\n

wars against terrorism,<\/b><\/p>\n

wars on poverty,<\/b><\/p>\n

wars to end all wars<\/b><\/p>\n

water wars<\/b><\/p>\n

whale wars<\/b><\/p>\n

word wars<\/p>\n

world wars<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Voila! \u00a0<\/i>A lexicon of \u201cwars.\u201d \u00a0With so many uses for the word \u201cwar,\u201d is it any wonder that we our nation can enter wars so easily, with the full implications and consequences being lost on a public now habituated to the term from its daily use?\u00a0 For the record, there are now more than 30 international, state, and civil \u201chot\u201d and \u201clow intensity\u201d wars throughout the world.\u00a0 Many wars are hidden from our awareness by using the terms \u201cinsurgencies,\u201d \u201cinsurrections,\u201d \u201crebellions,\u201d\u00a0 \u201carmed protests,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cuprisings,\u201d \u201cethnic conflicts and cleansings.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0It is only when we hear the word \u201cgenocide\u201d that we seem to suddenly become alert to the horrors of all these conflicts.\u00a0 And yet, even that word seems to have lost our determination to act, especially when the victims are considered our \u201cenemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

These terms hide the suffering, grief, and deaths that are now part of daily life across our globe.\u00a0 Human survival, as well as the survival of all life on our planet is threatened with extinction unless we can begin to end the sources of war that reside in widespread national, institutional, and structural abuses, oppression, exploitation, and the denial of dignity. We must cease the designation and labeling of others as \u201cenemies,\u201d (\u201cenemification\u201d), and begin to first ask whether that process itself empowers us to be the source of \u201cwars.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 If we seek peace, then let it begin first with a widespread awareness of our own individual, societal, and national contributions to \u201cwars\u201d\u00a0 with all of their destructive human, political, economic, environmental,\u00a0 and, and moral consequences.<\/p>\n

A special thank you to all readers who contributed additions to the list that eluded me. \u00a0They are noted in bold print.<\/p>\n

Also a special salute to the Brazilian poet\/scholar, Francisco Cardoso Gomes de Matos, who pointed out that there is no <\/b>\u201cnonkilling\u201d war.<\/p>\n

And from Tom Greening \u2013 our popular choice as \u201cPoet Laureate for Peace:\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cA HAPPY WAR\u201d<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Pacifism’s such a bore\u2014<\/em>
\n I’m going to design a war<\/em>
\n that even peaceniks won’t abhor,<\/em>
\n with pretty bombs and rosy gore,<\/em>
\n songs that stir you to your core,<\/em>
\n and moral stands you can’t ignore.<\/em>
\n There’ll be no terror any more<\/em>
\n when I’ve designed my happy war.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFrom: Marsella, A.J. (2011). The United States of America: \u201cA Culture of War.\u201d<\/em>
\nInternational Journal of Intercultural Relations<\/em><\/strong>, 35, 714-728<\/p>\n

__________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Anthony Marsella, Ph.D., a\u00a0 member of the TRANSCEND Network, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I must admit, as I gathered the terms, I found myself \u201cshocked\u201d by the widespread use of the word \u201cwar.\u201d Was it possible that within the context of our global era, replete with its increased inter-dependencies, we had come to find the tensions of competition for resources and survival itself, pushing us toward \u201cwars\u201d at all levels of interactions? In my opinion, a \u201cversus\u201d mentality had arisen that was pitting different people, organizations, nations, and products against one another in a win-lose arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235878,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26992\/revisions\/235878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}