Maybe it was "The 10,000 Year Explosion" that got me thinking about language, both spoken and written. It seems clear that much of the pleasure of human life comes from speaking to each other and from reading, especially from books, magazines and articles online. No question, our developed language is a great tool, the backbone of our ability to plan, to cooperate, the study and learn from the past.
But like just about anything, a tool or a weapon often has some sort of downside. A tortoise shell offers great protection but can be a trap if the animal is turned upside down. Antlers are good, too, but not so much when two dueling animals get locked together and can't separate. Similarly, speech and writing can be used to frighten, mislead, lie, undermine, bully and otherwise cause trouble.
You may want to look at "Haters" by Bailey Poland. She documents all the guff and negative comments that many women experience when communicating online. There are many reports of teens of both sexes developing depression or worse from the comments they receive over the internet.
I am impressed at the verses in the Old Testament, especially Proverbs, that caution against slander, harmful gossip, badmouthing and lying. So, 4 to 7 centuries before the current common period, people were already aware of the damage that can be done with speech. I suppose writing was less likely to be misused since few people could write.
Of course, anyone can write but maybe not in a way that anyone else anywhere can read. Keyboards and spoken commands to create writing such as Apple's Siri can carry out may change things over time. With a little help from today's machines, I can write lies or made-up stories in a language I can't read.
I have read lately that measles, flu and other diseases are widespread in certain locations where people have used language (and example) to convey the idea that vaccines are more dangerous than particular diseases. This strikes me as the same as the very old practice of spreading a rumor that a certain person is diseased or unclean but targeting a needle instead of a person.
