We are hostages to language and its structure puts limits on our will to express ourselves, but, at the same time, only through words can we speak and free ourselves. Many journalists, writers and activists are murdered for speaking out, or because they are suspected of doing so.
Our own words have lost their freedom, and are now governed more by what those in power dictate than by any dictionary from the language academies. Taking a risk and saying something dangerous is an indication of parrhesia, etymologically “saying everything” Whoever promulgates it says what he has in mind, he opens his heart and his mind through his speech. It is linked to bravery in the face of danger: you risk, even dying, to tell the truth. According to the psychoanalyst Paul Verhaeghe, language is not so much a means of communication, but a resource to consolidate identity. The denial of language is pernicious because it causes the collapse of exteriority and the subjugated body.