Blog Post 4

All social movements use some form of language strategy, which portray the messages, or themes of the group to achieve a goal or objective. I chose to do my journal on power because I felt it was one of the strongest in our society today. There are many different displays of power found in social movements and the social media today. Power stems from not only what is said, but also how it is said and who said it. The government attempts to use its power in order to keep us thinking along the same lines as them using language based in our moral code. By using this type of language in conjunction with narratives of how they would want us to behave the government uses its power to keep us a few steps below them to maintain order. Social movements also use power of symbols or symbolic acts that they feel degrades them as people, and fight to have these symbols removed from the social norm.

    When choosing the language tactic, “a specific use of language that aids the accomplishment of a larger strategy” (pp.152), I decided to use songs because people fighting for change have always utilized songs in their efforts to voice their opinion. Songs throughout time have been much more influential then other language tactics because they are designed for us to memorize and sing a long. This repetition voices ideals that can be an emotional and passed down from generation to generation. Songs get people feeling a certain way and give them enough confidence to stand with those with the same goal and sing together, whether metaphorically or literally.

   For my example I used a song by K-Rino called Grand Deception I was shown in high school, which was written to get people to wake up and see what is going on in the government today. Whether the views are correct or not I was always enthralled by the use of symbolism he feels the government uses, which illustrate how we are being taught to be passive and programmed under their control. For example, under the pyramid it says “novus ordo seclorum” which means new order of the world or the new world order. He believes the government uses the power they have through language to control us through systematic teachings embedded in our culture. This is obviously an example of language tactic through song because it was the first song that came to mind when thinking of an example in the social media, meaning it did its job. Now this may not be an established social movement but he is writing this song to change how we feel about the government and whom we should really trust. Language strategies and language tactics can be a very powerful way of getting your opinions across and detrimental to any social movement or governing force.

(Grand Deception: K-Rino http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnvv6wuqHYU