Ojomo MinottEnglish: 101-LS4Professor: Edwin GarciaMarch 29, 2014To speak or not to speak? N²: Naylor's NotionIn Gloria Naylor's essay A Question of Language, she states: “Words themselves are harmless; it is consensus that gives them real power” (221). This quote talks about the fact that words, whatever their form: written or spoken, are just WORDS! themselves are simply a combination of letters from our known alphabet that simply combine to form a globally recognized form of communication. They themselves hold no power. No weight. The same as a loaded gun without a finger behind it, eager to pull the trigger in the pure ecstasy of the thrill of the moment; either for themselves or at the request of their “masters”. Sure, it's there, but a gun left there alone can't cause harm to anyone. A weapon only becomes an instrument of war and death once it is picked up and equipped on an appropriate ship, much like a symbiote. Guns don't kill people. People use guns to kill people! As with guns, words themselves, or rather words alone, can do NOTHING! It is only the very notions, ideas conceived and tautologies by many individuals that give them meaning and power intended to be used to satisfy their own personal agendas; some with good intentions and goals, others bad. Once the word [of an idea] is spread vocally or written by the power of the biased parties involved, the "majority/minority vote" then comes into play. The listening public then begins to "split" into two groups : the majority and the minority. In his essay, Naylor talks about his belief that it is consensus (the majority) that “gives meaning” and gives words “power” (221). For my part, a real middle of paper would occur, fights would break out and many times throughout history, as we have unfortunately seen, we would go to war over words- both written and spoken, resulting in the tragic death of many people. are just words. They can't physically hurt anyone. Yes, they can sometimes be used as weapons by one individual or group to harm another individual or group, as we have seen many times throughout history. Hopefully, as we, the human race, move forward into the future, we can all truly learn that words are mere spectators to the audience listening to them and nothing more at any given point in history . are just words. Without a [biased] voice behind them, they cannot “speak.” Learn this absolute [truth] and the world will be [just] right. Works Cited Naylor, Gloria. “A question of language”. The New York Times Magazine 1986