Action or Language

Richard Wright said, “Use the language as the weapon.” The language is a miracle. It is much more effective than the actions because it can not only protect the dignity in one’s mind but also provoke the national spiritual which cannot be done by the actions. James Famer Jr. and Thomas Paine will explain the reason to you.

In The greatest debater, a film about the African Debaters arguing for their rights, James Farmer, Jr., the hero in the film has high command of language, who through using it, succeeds in defeating the Harvard team. As he joins the team of debaters, the four members in their team are trained day and night in order to win the competitions. Once in viewing one of his races lynched by the White Americans, Farmer, instead of starting a fight right away with them, keeps a rational mind and holds back his indignant. He resorts to the power of words. He realizes that the African Americans not only need a victory, but a victory with dignity and the conflict would only result in more blood-shedding. When debating against Harvard University, he talks about the lynching with the decent but indisputable voice. The white Americans also understand that violence and fighting only could only do harm to the social stability. As a result, he successfully gains the reputation for his race, contributing to the social equality between the whites and blacks.

Also in the American, a few hundred years ago, during the time before the American Revolutionary War, the Americans who are colonized by the British colonists had tried to provoke the rebellion with their situation but they failed because they were lack of concentration of the habitats. Instead of acting as the pioneers to start the war like showing rebellious activities in an obvious way, Paine used language to provoke the inhabitants—not only the residents but also the immigration: the former British settlers. How could he congregate the idea of different people even include these highly-educated British...