“Language as a virus”: why we need a “lexicon for this pandemic”
(…) Language is the very condition of the possibility of naming justice. It is the core of political existence.
Dr. Eduardo Mendieta, Lexicon of a Pandemic: Language as a virus, Solstice
By the same token, language may be the very condition for concealing, masking, and imposing injustice. Language may itself become a form of tyranny, or the way to sanction a tyrannical political system at least. (…)
A virus is a biological entity, but language itself can be infected by the virus of double speak, misinformation, and obfuscation. Language itself can become the vector of other viruses. Still, though language may be a virus that infects the mind and our public existence, it may also be a source of healing, of clarity, good air, articulation, and inoculation for our public mind, something that makes us civically resilient.