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How does language affect the way we see things?

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How does language affect the way we see things? Language is one of the ways to acquire knowledge. And it affects our perception because it is one of the main ways of knowing. We know things, many times, because we perceive knowledge through our senses. We listen to people speak, we read works, we can see body language and sometimes, blind people also use their touch to read Braille. So, we can agree to the fact that both language and perception play a major role in giving us knowledge. This also means that because of their major role, their creation of illusions is also major. Though we understand a lot through knowledge and it brings us closer to the truth, it is also something that possibly creates some of our biggest blindfolds. Nobody in this world knows languages when they are born, whether it is animals or humans. ...read more.


Before Hitler arrived, Jews were merely other human beings, but, after his arrival, many a people started believing that Jews had tails and huge beards and that the Aryans were always blonde, lean and tall. Now that is surprising. This leads us to wonder that if language could play such a big havoc with our senses. How much can we trust them? Just listening to a person can change the truth? Then to what extent is it the truth. Body language is important when it comes to first impressions and it is majorly perceived through our eyes. It is also said by most psychologists, that words may lie, but, body never does. This leads us to another confusion. Uninviting body or verbal language can create biases against a person. We may find that person undesirable every time after that even if we see positive responses. ...read more.


Whereas, in human and natural sciences, there is nothing more useful than language to understand things and nothing more disastrous than the ways language is perceived if done with biases. Alterations in language can cause us to change our perception within a second. This theory is highly depended upon by the marketing industry. Excellent marketing agents can make us realize that we absolutely cannot survive without their product. For example, most of the shampoo advertisements tell us about chemicals and proteins that we have never heard of. But, this just makes them better in our eyes. This leads us to a very big question. How much can we trust language to provide the truth for us? Does it lead us closer to the truth? Or does it add to our biases and make us puppets? It is a universal truth that we learn because there is language. Without language, knowledge cannot be passed on in an efficient way. But, is this the true knowledge that we are looking for or are we just being blindfolded? ...read more.

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