2.) We focused our discussion last week on the use of controlled language, and in particular the shibboleth.  How does this contribute to an erosion of human rights in general? Are we witnessing this today? Again, refer specifically to the novel, but also see recent news reports if you wish.

In our discussion we talked about the use of controlled language. We talked about the Dominicans using a shibboleth to figure out who was Dominican and who was Haitian during the parsley massacre. This idea of controlled language contributes to the erosion of general human rights because it is a way to divide people or separate groups. It means that people in power  use the power of language to discriminate against other groups of people below them. It can be seen as a weapon as we’ve seen throughout history as stories and voices were silenced by someone with more power.

This happens even today as we watch the fight for censor control in the united states. In recent news CNN’s Jim Acosta’s press pass was suspended by the White House after an exchange between him and President Trump. To many viewers this is seen as nothing more than a news story but it became so much more. This is taking away the language of a specific group and from the press. It is in no means equivalent to what happened during the Parsley Massacre but it is a modern United States example of someone controlling language or having power over language to silence another.

In The Farming of Bones it was the word parejil. This word meant life or death based on how one would say word parsley. By controlling something as simple as language Dominicans found a way to carry out their genocide. We see this in the book as we watch time and time again as characters struggle to cross the bridge where the Dominicans were testing the Haitian people. The Massacre earned its name because of the language technique which was used to identify people.