In a discussion elsewhere, I am asked;
Is there one #$@&__@ thing that anyone can talk about anymore without resort to technical epistemology?
To which I responded….
No.
We haven’t been able to work outside those confinements for some time now.
There is certainly a good deal out there of it. The most glaring example is the parsing of the word “is”. Most people here will understand exactly what I’m talking about on that score. And that’s out there for everybody to see in glaring detail.
But there are more subtle redefinitions. Ponder the use of the word “fairness”. Of the phrase “living wage”.
I could certainly make the list of redefined words longer but you get the gist of it.
But there’s one more phrase that I want you to consider. “Dog whistle”.It was the left that began the overuse of that phrase recently… mostly an attempt to disqualify words that actually mean things.
Before I close the editor and post this response I am reminded of Lewis Carroll…
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.””Addendum… but then what did you expect from a group of people who absolutely believe there are no absolutes?
I close with this. How many words, how much of the language have we seen taken over Buy the fiscal and social left trying to make acceptable the unacceptable?