Week Ten: Babel-17

For this week I read the novel Babel-17, to which I giggled when I realize that this treacherous language was literally named "babble" 17. A story where the mere knowledge of a certain language could manipulate you into betrayal definitely gets the point across: that words hold power. As we explore the power that language can hold, and the fiction of ideas, I couldn't help but notice "Fahrenheit 451" as the featured movie for this week. Though it was a book that I had read in early high school, Fahrenheit 451 wasn't faded from my memory. Both Babel-17 and Fahrenheit 451 emphasized the importance of ideas, and how its power could crumple societies and mesmerize thousands. In both works, it was the idea planted in the mind by words that grew to be powerful, even threatening. Ideas take hold, and they invade the mind, encouraging its host to act according to its wishes and commands. Babel-17 featured a language weaponized to control people, altering their thinking and subsequently, their actions. As we come to realize the true power of language, it becomes apparent that in our modern world, we are manipulated by words as well. With information spreading so quickly and uncontrollably, novels like Babel-17 and Fahrenheit 451 cause us to become aware of its power over us and society, especially the people who are able to facilitate and manipulate its content and spread.