Bellicose means favoring or inclined to start wars. She uses this word to explain how politics have been know for starting disputes. She then goes on to explain how the very word of campaign comes from a back round of war. It is a good word to describe how politics have always been about arguing and who is right and who is wrong.
Chavez is attempting to persuade the reader into believing that civility in word choice does need to be used but it shouldn't have to take away from the content of the literature. The vocabulary authors use should not be affected by civility. "it should not be used as an excuse to stifle legitimate debate or denude our language of color, passion, or good metaphor." in that quote Chavez is talking about civility getting in the way of a good piece of literature. Her point that we have changed so much in my opinion is the best example, "We've already virtually eliminated certain words from our public vocabulary -- or revised the meaning of others to conform to political correctness." this goes to show how much people are afraid to use words that would be better to describe or imitate what they mean.
I agree with Chavez completely. I think civility does need to used when speaking publicly, and you shouldn't just be throwing harsh words around. I also agree with her when she says that some of those words that some see as offensive can be used in a good way as a metaphor and in a descriptive matter. When she talks about the "n" word being changes to slave in the story "Huckleberry fin" I thought it was completely unnecessary. Things like that just take away from the true meaning, and feel of the story. When the words are used in that context it is not meant to offend or hurt anybody. It is simply to tell what life was like during this time period. Obviously people wouldn't write that all over in a book written in today's time period. Things change over time and language is one of them. So overall I agree with Linda Chavez and hope other people get the point as well.
