Control the Language (Part One)

This is the first in a series about words we use daily.  As George Orwell said:

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.  A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better.”

Divided

We are a Nation divided.  In fact, we are a Nation born in division.  Even in the American Revolution, only forty-five percent of the colonists were in favor of rebellion. A solid twenty percent were loyal to the Crown.  Around 80,000 (out of 2.5 million)  left the colonies after the Revolution, fleeing to Canada and Great Britain (USHistory.org). 

Our divisions today seem clearer than ever.  I watch MSNBC, my neighbor watches Fox.  We see different news broadcasts, with different perspectives on almost every event.  And even if you don’t “watch” the news, we all have widely differing sources for information.  We are in a “post-truth” age; we can select the “truths” that fit our perspective.  And, of course, I’m right, and you’re wrong (not really).  Ask Tucker Carlson if you don’t believe me. 

America’s language is just as divided as its politics.  Words that once had “clear meaning”, now mean totally different things to different people.  It depends where their sources of information are, who they listen to, and what they believe.  There have already been essays on “Our America” dealing with some of these “language” differences in the past.  But it’s time to write an “index” of terms, what meanings they have, and how they divide us.

Liberal

There are really three definitions of the word “liberal”.  The first is the classic definition, used in the terms liberal arts, liberal democracies, and liberal education.  In that meaning, liberal means “all encompassing”.  So a liberal arts colleges include many academic subjects, and fewer “professional” programs.  My alma mater, Denison University, offers degrees in sciences, fine arts, and in “the academic arts” like languages, history, politics, and economics.  Denison offers few “professional” programs like Nursing or Engineering, though it was possible to get a teaching certification while earning another liberal arts degree.

A liberal democracy encompasses all of the racial, gender and ethnic groups in that country, guaranteeing freedoms.  All get the right to choose the government representatives by voting.  When a nation becomes “illiberal”, it begins to restrict those rights, and trend towards more authoritarian leaders who use government to control information and political dissent.

With all of this “encompassing”, it shouldn’t be surprised that a political liberal believes that the government itself can make life better for people.  Government can “encompass” people’s lives and make life easier.   That’s as opposed to conservatives who believe the government interferes in most people’s lives, and should be as limited as possible.

And when “liberal” is used as a pejorative, it’s the idea that liberals are weak; weak on crime, weak on foreign policy, weak on capitalism.  That’s not at all true – but after the 1960’s the term stuck so badly, that many liberals “recategorized” themselves as Progressives.  That’s really the same thing as liberal, but without the baggage.  Me – I’m just an old-fashioned 1960’s liberal – you can keep Progressive to yourself.

Woke

Since liberal is an old fashioned term, and progressive isn’t as descriptive, the new-speak term is “woke”.  It came from “waking up” to the reality of racial, gender, and ethnic injustice.  “Woke” folk get it – that the majority white men have had an unfair advantage ever since the Nation was founded.  Case in point:  originally only white, males, over twenty-one, who owned property, had the right to vote.  

This really didn’t change much until the 1960’s, when the civil rights movement raised the visibility of black oppression.  The women’s rights movement occurred soon after, and while the Equal Rights Amendment failed ratification, the idea of equal gender rights persisted (though women still  today earn only 80% of what men earn for the same jobs in many categories).  Rights for the disabled, for the LGBTQ, all progressed through the latter half of the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first. 

The use of the term woke as a pejorative came about  just recently as a backlash against the increasing rights of all those groups.  To put a negative spin on that – think of it as payback from those formerly advantaged white men who are losing the “benefits” of their race and gender, and don’t like it.  To insult someone by calling them “woke” is to demand that white/male advantages continue.   All of that makes me a sixties liberal, who’s proud to be “woke”.

Participation Award

One of the great insults thrown at “woke” and “liberal” people, is that they are weakening America by stunting competition. Competition is the economic basis of American life, capitalism.  Of course, in a competition where one group has a built-in advantage, that’s hardly fair.  Look at the monopolies that dominate America energy, or advanced technology.  But since the advantaged group doesn’t recognize their unfair edge, they go ahead and claim that America “no longer competes to be the best”, but instead everyone “gets a participation award”.  

That goes back to little kids sports, where the actual goal is participation.  That’s the most important thing, instead of winning, because of the built-in physical differences between kids.  The “winners” are often the older, or the physically more mature, and won’t maintain their advantage as everyone else “catches up”.  In order to keep the younger and less physically mature involved, the reward for them is being “part of the team”. Who knows what kind of athlete they might be with a couple of years of maturity.

But that’s “woke” (in a bad way) according to many.  They believe America’s children need to learn early that “life isn’t fair” and winning is the most important thing.  Anti-award folks quote that least “woke” American General of all time – George S. Patton:

“Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn’t give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war.”

Then they apply it to seven-year old baseball.  War is hell, and so is losing that seven year old T-Ball game.

(To Be Continued…)

Essays on Language

• Control the Language – Part Two
• Control the Language – Part One
• I am Pro Life
• Off My Chest
• Message to a Friend