Tannen, Graff, and Blask

After reading the two pieces by Tannen and Graff, it is hard to chose a side when they both make valid points.  I agree that in today's society, terms that have to do with war and battle and violence are overused, but I disagree that they are hurting anybody in any way or that we should do away with them completely. It is also difficult to side with Graff, since in his writing he hardly comes up with his own points and spends most of the article citing and disagreeing with Tannens points.  When it comes to using different words to describe the same thing, it seems hard to believe that somebody could have such a problem with the words the people are using, enough of a problem to write a multi-paged paper on the subject.  When people say "take a stab at it", in there heads they are merely saying to give it a try, and nothing else is meant.  In that case, nothing negative is being caused, and there are no subconscious feelings that the listener feels.  In that case, I disagree with Tannen. However I do Agree with Tannen when she speaks on politics.  I think that calling a political debate between two people of different parties a "battle" is wrong.  There is nothing dangerous or threatening to either of the people involved, calling it a battle is used to subconsciously spark hatred against the opposing party, and if all the people watching or involved in the debate are already thinking negatively about the other side, then nothing is accomplished in the debate.