{"id":30098,"date":"2018-06-13T12:09:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T16:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=30098"},"modified":"2018-06-13T12:17:27","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T16:17:27","slug":"when-language-is-incorrect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2018\/06\/when-language-is-incorrect.html","title":{"rendered":"When Language Is Incorrect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nMokusatsu<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Asked what he\u2019d do first if called upon to rule a nation Confucius replied, \u201cI\u2019d correct language.
\nIf language isn\u2019t correct
\nThen what is said is not what\u2019s meant
\nAnd what ought to be done remains undone.
\nMorals and art deteriorate
\nAnd justice goes astray \u2013
\nAnd if justice should disappear
\nThen people will stand about in helpless confusion.
\nSo there must be no arbitrariness in what\u2019s said.
\nIt matters above everything.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Asked to surrender in World War II
\nThe Japanese used the word \u2018mokusatsu\u2019
\nIn their response to an Allied ultimatum.
\nThe Japanese word meant
\n\u2018We withhold comment \u2013 pending discussion\u2019.
\nWhen their reply was sent to Washington
\nThe crucial word was mistranslated:
\nIts correct meaning being changed for
\n`We are treating your message with contempt\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Americans claimed that their ultimatum had been rebuffed
\nSo they were free to play with their new toys.
\nTwo atomic bombs nicknamed \u2018Little Boy\u2019 and \u2018Fat Man\u2019
\nWere then dropped upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
\nA hundred and seventy-five thousand people
\nEither stood about in helpless confusion
\nOr were turned into radioactive dust.<\/p>\n

Today \u2018peace\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means a seething stalemate instead of calm;
\n\u2018Strength\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means paranoid force instead of right-minded confidence;
\n\u2018Defence\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means the compulsive accumulation of profitable weapons
\nRather than the thoughtful exercise of skill;
\n\u2018Testing\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means the deadly detonation of a nuclear device Instead of a tentative experiment;
\nA \u2018disarmament treaty\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means junking obsolete weapons because of economic restraints
\nRather than abandoning technological violence;
\n\u2018First strike\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means last strike;
\n\u2018Security\u2019 is mistranslated
\nAnd means danger;
\n\u2018War\u2019 is mistranslated,
\nAnd we are invited to believe
\nThat war means peace.<\/font><\/p>\n

Heathcote Williams<\/em><\/strong>
\n(Courtesty IT: International Times, The Newspaper of Resistance)<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mokusatsu Asked what he\u2019d do first if called upon to rule a nation Confucius replied, \u201cI\u2019d correct language. If language isn\u2019t correct Then what is said is not what\u2019s meant And what ought to be done remains undone. Morals and art deteriorate And justice goes astray \u2013 And if justice should disappear Then people will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,18,4,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-literature","9":"category-main","10":"category-news","11":"category-political-culture","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/confucius.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-7Ps","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30098"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30110,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30098\/revisions\/30110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}