the language instinct

I know. Disturbing, ain't it? This morning I watched a "CNN Presents" about how soldiers are trained to kill. But they don't actually ever "kill;" the correct term is "target acquisition."

The program also said that post-WWII research found that traditional bullseye-target practice resulted in only 25% of soldiers pulling the trigger on another man at the key moment. So the army implimented the use of pop-up targets in the shape of human beings during training, and a similar study during the Vietnam "conflict" revealed that the rate of successful "target acquisition" had risen to nearly 100%. It seems to me that turning death and killing into "collateral damage" and "target acquisition" is the verbal equivalent of turning human beings into pop-up targets -- if you distance yourself from humanity in your head, somehow accountability can be kept at arm's length as well.

So that means that it's really thought allowing us to use language to distance ourselves right?

Or lack thereof.

I consulted my boyfriend (who is a soldier here in Canada and just got back from a tour overseas) and asked him for his input on this whole topic regarding thought and language and the military. he read the thread, and this is what he has to say:

"Some truth to what they are saying, alot of it is politics though, sounding more PC, the lowly soldier rarely uses those terms. that's introduced by the leaders to make it sound more acceptable to the public. Target aquisition is not killing, it's identifying a target; collateral damage is the resultant damage. we use pop up targets for reaction time, and we've been using human shaped targets as long as i've been in the army.
Of course the army wants to distance the human element, or who would do it? If they said "This is your target, his name is Bob, has two kids and before the army was a salesman, now kill him". Of course they want to make it sound as job like as possilbe, that's just common sense.
Also, one of the people talks about how in WWII, only 25% of the soldiers would pull the trigger, which dramatically increased by the Vietnam war. Alot of this has to do with the fact that in WWII, most of the solders were draftees and from Vietnam on they've been mostly volunteers. Makes a big difference"

Quote:

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Originally posted by verybaddmom
Alot of this has to do with the fact that in WWII, most of the solders were draftees and from Vietnam on they've been mostly volunteers. Makes a big difference"

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Um, wasn't it the other way around, though? I don't know the statistics, but at least in the US most WWII soldiers were volunteer, and (at least by the end of the war) most in Vietnam were drafted.

again, I'm directly quoting my boyfriend here (love cut and paste!):
"Negatory there Emily, WW II most were draftees, average age 26, Vietnam mostly volunteers, average age 19. Actually, I was very surprised to find that out as well but it's true."

apparently he wasnt finished!:
"A lot of soldiers from N America, especially the States were draftees due to the fact that a lot of Americans didn't believe in the war, during Vietnam, the average age being so young and previous family histories of being in the military, it was "expected". This all changed of course towards the end of Vietnam with the protests and growing "flowerchild" era."

my dad volunteered for the air force. then again, his reasoning was he didn't want to be drafted to fight in vietnam.

that would've been '67 or '68.

That's really, really interesting. My grandpa was a Lt. Col. in Vietnam '65-'66, but he's never spoken of it in detail, so I know nothing of his army experiences. Except that, a year or two earlier, he was briefly in command of Elvis Presley when he joined the army, and he's quoted in the book "Soldier Boy Elvis." :D But, uhh, that has nothing to do with the war.

Ok, to get back to the original topic. I'm just hinting something here, the link between lanuage and thoughts. Wonder how many of you will get what I'm trying to say.

Vèera bylo venku hezky, aèkoli pršelo. *will check if all the letters are ok later*

Thing is, how many of you guys got any thought reading what I have just just said? I mean, a thought to the point in the sentense, not a thought such as 'what was that supposed to mean'. It will get better if I say: The weather yesterday was nice even though it rained.
Anyone there want to tell me now the thoughts and language have to be the same (meaning using English language and forming words in English when thinking). Anyone here thinks in his/hers not native language? Because I do, even though for short periods of time. Depends on the situation when I actually do some thinking ;).

I'm afraid I don't follow you. I understood the original post to mean "are people's ways of thinking shaped by their *native* language, does a native English speaker think about the weather differently than a native Czech speaker because the way their language describes it is different?"

(and my opinion was "no")

Lol, now I'm afraid I don't follow you :D. And I didn't mean to hint a native English speaker thinks differently about the weather than a Czech one. I might actually misunderstand the question or just haven't explained my thought in a way someone would be able to understand. Expressing my thoughts has never been a big success for me.

That's ok, I was just confused. But then I haven't slept in 20 hours so it might be time for me to recharge the old batteries before I go in for any in-depth discussion today. :p

wow, emily, get some sleep!!
my dad never talked either, about the military or his job as a fireman/paramedic.

i think sometimes in spanish even though i've only had a couple of classes in it because it sometimes it conveys emotion no not even that, just a "something" better, at that point in time, even if i don't know how to conjugate all verbs or know all words. at that point a word in english slips in or i use more basic phrasing. i don't think i'd like learning another language if i wasn't comfortable thinking in it now and then. case in point, i took spanish from '84 to '86, also last semester. i had to speak it at work in spring 2002. it was amazing how much i was able to still use, having spoken it around the house (talked to myself :D) in high school.