2. Chavez chose to use the word bellicose because it fit with the theme of metaphors about violence, war, and guns. It means favoring or inclined to start quarrels and by using the word to describe politics, she accurately captures the argumentative nature of politics, and shows that good politics are filled with bellicose people.
3. A) Chavez wants the reader to believe that it is possible to think before speaking, and not be bland at the same time.
B) I feel that when she brought up Mark Twain and his use of questionable language it showed that by censoring meaning was lost.
4. I agree with Chavez. I believe it is important to choose your words carefully, but I also do not throw out metaphors in my vocabulary because it might be offensive to someone who experienced a situation very remotely connected in word but no connection in incident, such as when Chavez brought up how people were arguing that target should be removed from political language, because of the non-related Tucson shootings. I agree with her statement “It is rarely the words themselves but the context and intent that matter.” Words themselves are just collections of consonants and vowels, it is the prejudices that people assign to them that can be hateful and lead to issues. People need to realize that the context around questionable words can lend insight to the speaker or writers intent, and not jump to worst case conclusions.
