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submitted 1 week ago by faizalr@fedia.io to c/world@lemmy.world

Israeli foreign ministry posts video of Thunberg’s arrest; vessels carrying about 500 activists intercepted about 75 miles off coast of war-torn territory

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[-] wheezy@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

You (I hope) recognize that

the state kidnapping a pedophile and puting them in prison.

vs.

a pedophile kidnapping a child and putting them in their basement

are different beyond just the material action of forcefully taking someone against their will. There is context that matters. So we use different words to describe the different contextual relationships. This example is a clear difference. I really hope we don't have to debate that. It's why I'm using it as an example. So we can remove the moral ambiguity and agree to this distinction.

There are obviously less extreme examples of this. That is the why understanding how language is used is important. In reality we say "the child was kidnapped" and "the pedophile was arrested". It is vocabulary that describes the relationships of morality that we as a society assume to uphold.

By your reasoning they "are both acts of violence and taking someone against their will and imprisoning them". I get that mate. But the world you want to live in where we describe both these actions as "kidnapping" does not exist.

Like, in what reality is your opinion even useful to reality? We don't live in a world where language is used the way you want it to be. You need to understand the world you live in and the way language is used.

Understanding how and why the media uses words like "arrest" vs. "kidnap" to infer a false justification is significantly more helpful than saying "well we should simplify language". Human language isn't a programming language. It can't be. It needs to deal with significantly more ambiguity, emotions, and morals.

Like, how are you even trying to apply this type of reasoning to the world? It's useless for describing reality. Language isn't used the way you want it to. And it never will work that way. What you're trying to argue for isn't useful to describing reality.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Language is always subject to change and evolution. I can’t predict the future and neither can you. I think explaining that context verbally is less harmful than implying it with weasel words.

And even if my desired change doesn’t happen, I think it’s valuable to challenge the assumptions built into these words to make people think about them and the way they are used instead of just blindly accepting “the criminal was arrested”.

this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
143 points (98.6% liked)

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