"The Power of Words in Wartime" & "Persecution of the Jews"

"The Power of Words in Wartime"

According to Lakoff during wartime, words have the power to make the enemy seem less human, which makes it easier to kill them.
I agree with the points Lakoff makes about the power of words. People are easily persuaded to believe what someone is saying if their language is appealing enough, in any instance.
I think that this essay can be referred to language at anytime. I mean that is primarily the tool used in propaganda, so why not use it during wartime and when there is a sale at the mall? It only makes sense.
I do not completely agree with Lakoff on the account of Abu Ghraib, because although soldiers are trained to think of their enemy as less than human, in some part of their mind they can still remember that they are part of the same species. So I don’t think that they can totally think that their captive is not human anymore just because of a few new titles given to them. I think that there is much more military training that goes into making someone a torturer.
In some ways I can see how the different languages could be used as a demising factor, but it does also make the American troops not look so bright when they call the Iraqis “hajis” and try to use it in a derogatory way when it is actually a term of respect to older Muslim men.

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"Persecution of the Jews"

No matter how much I read about the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, I can still not believe how the citizens followed Hitler and his ideals. I mean, I understand that they were just looking for someone who had an idea of any possible way they could stop raise their standard of living, but to be so desperate that you start destroying a whole peoples' way of life, I would thing that someone would have caught on to it being a not so good idea.
I don't think I had ever heard the number of 35 Jews being killed during Kristallnacht, so that was a new piece of information. I can see how more people died later because of the injuries given to them that night, but the thought of suicide after that had never crossed my mind. But I guess it is understandable when you are seeing that your country has turned its back on you and has started to take away your home, your livelihood, your citizenship, and even the people who you thought were your friends.

Gahh! I find it so interesting to learn about Nazi Germany. Depressing, but fascinating.