Originally published by Communities @ Washington Times
October 12, 2010-Human beings have disagreed with each other since the beginning of time. I don’t mind when people argue against my values or positions when they truly understand what they are objecting to, but serious debate is often paralyzed by emotional reaction to certain words and phrases. Nobody likes to be called names and we all enjoy compliments, so we avoid bad labels like land mines and turn praise into a trophy for our fireplace mantel. Still, without the courage to speak our minds, we make ourselves slaves to a language, forgetting that language was invented as a mere tool to convey ideas.
Over time, some expressions have become so emotionally charged that their use ends discussion before wisdom can remind us what the expression actually means. History provides us 20/20 hindsight, so undoubtedly the day will return when healthy discussion is valued above mere words. In the meantime, if we wanted to bury some of the most commonly misused words and phrases, I would be willing to recite a lovely eulogy. And so, without further ado, I offer a list of words and phrases to permanently retire. Once the sandbags of this dam are removed, the free flowing river of honest exchange and shared thought will return.
?
1) “I find this offensive.”
Today’s generation gets offended far too easily. Some would be offended if a leaf fell from a tree. Frankly, I don’t care whether words offend. I care more about whether or not words are true. Our forefathers knew that free speech would often offend. Why else would it need to be protected by our constitution? Certainly, there is no reason to purposely offend people as an end in itself. We should never go out of our way to be rude; neither should those of us who are Christians and conservatives act self-righteously or be inappropriately judgmental. But when someone is offended simply by a manger scene, a cross around the neck, or an opposing political viewpoint, then we must face the fact that we live in very thin skinned times and stop worrying so much about what offends.
2) Tolerance
“You sound intolerant!” people cry, in an effort to quickly silence their opponents and end discussion. But the truth is, nobody, and I mean nobody tolerates everything. Do you tolerate slavery? Do you tolerate racism? Do you tolerate rape? Do you tolerate murder? OK, then each topic should be discussed on its own moral merits. When homosexuality comes up (the true subject hiding behind the word “tolerance”) the question should not be whether or not we tolerate the practice but why we do or do not tolerate the practice.
3) Hate
The slightest tone of concern, the sheer hint of warning, the mere audacity to disagree with anything politically correct is quickly labeled as “hate.” Not long ago, someone wrote to me claiming that I had too much hate in my blog because I was so critical of Obama. This same person had been sending me conspiracy theories about George Bush for over a year before then.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves and should back up for a moment. Hate is not necessarily a bad word. Some things in life are worth hating. I hate evil, for instance, and I hate evil without apology. The problem here (similar to the misuse of the word “tolerance”) is that we have disagreements about who is evil or what is evil.
Admittedly, a more negative understanding of the word hate is the one most prevalent today, namely an extreme, bitter emotion that often wants to see harm done to others, even innocents.
Unfortunately, today’s culture has ripped all the power from this word. Twenty years ago, could you have imagined the day would come when those who believe marriage should be between a man and a woman would be viewed as hateful or that those who want to protect the life of an unborn baby would be known as vile meanies?
No, we have not been good stewards of this word and therefore, it should be retired.
4) Compassion
So, you think you are a compassionate person? Well, unless you want to give amnesty and free health care to illegal aliens, you are mistaken. Unless you want to forbid the death penalty to terrorists and other murderers, how dare you call yourself compassionate? Where do you get the nerve? Oh yes, compassion toward unborn babies (or even born ones, for that matter, should you protest Obama’s voting approval of infanticide in the Illinois Infant Protection Act) also disqualifies you as a candidate for compassion.
5) Bi-Partisanship
Being partisan simply means that you are partial to a certain point of view or political party that you believe in. How else would you have it? Should we, instead, show loyalty to the party whose values we disagree with? Oh, certainly, there are some issues important enough for Democrats and Republicans to work together on, but this would assume honest agreement on a matter that puts the good of the country before the good of the party.
Unfortunately, today’s definition of “bi-partisanship” is that Republicans should do things the way Democrats want them done. Not getting behind President Obama is being partisan or unpatriotic (to name a couple of other words that should probably be retired.) Of course, when Bush was in office, Democrats lectured us about how American it is to offer healthy dissent. Speaking of the word American…Let us move on to Number 6.
6) The American People
I must admit, my emotion toward this phrase is very personal and I may be alone in despising it, but honestly, the constant usage of these three words makes me want to throw up. They sound phony and disingenuous, whether they come from the lips of Democrats or Republicans. “I am taking this stand because this is what the American people want to see.”
First of all, most politicians do not work for the American people. They work for their own political parties and special interest groups. For another thing, our town hall meetings and tea parties are demonstrating that far too many of our trusted leaders don’t have a clue what the American people really want and are not at all attuned to the heartthrob of the populace.
While I offer a couple of objective reasons for deleting it, I should also confess that I am just privately sick and tired of the phrase. I’ll settle for anything else: “Americans” or “American citizens” or even just “citizens.” How about “friends, Romans, countrymen?” But let us retire once and for all this patronizing phrase called, the American people.
7) Diversity
As our own military involuntarily demonstrated not too long ago, the word not only hinders freedom, it ends lives, specifically the lives of the 13 people gunned down at Ft. Hood by Nidal Hasan, whose dangerous beliefs were clearly understood ahead of time by other officers. They nevertheless failed to mention anything for fear of being branded “intolerant toward Muslims” or “politically incorrect.”
Asked how such an individual could have remained in the Army after making some of his hate-filled open proclamations, General George W. Casey promised it was being looked into. He also went on to say that, if we lost our diversity over this incident, it would be an “even greater tragedy.”
I disagree, General. It seems to me that when someone is murdered in cold blood, that is the greater tragedy!
These days, “diversity” does not refer to any true or honest diversity. It means “diversity of religion” or “diversity of race” or “diversity of sexual preference” or “diversity of gender.” It never EVER means “diversity of ideas.” If somebody holds a different view of homosexuality or a different view of Islam (namely the view that Islam, despite the individual exceptions, may just not be the peaceful religion it claims to be) such a viewpoint is not tolerated, even if the conclusion is backed up by science (in the case of the former) or the Koran itself (in the case of the latter).
And so, my friends, because we have been irresponsible with this word, even to the point where it has become lethal, time now to also retire the word diversity.
CONCLUSION: Of course there are and will be many other words and phrases to retire. But seriously, wasn’t my modest little offering a good start? Just imagine how much easier conversation, dialogue and debate would go if the words on this list were quarantined? People would actually be forced to truly listen to each other and that might be a whole new experience for both hands, the left and the right.
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