Posted on 07/06/2023 5:04:33 AM PDT by MtnClimber
People who use words as weapons understand that hijacking a country’s vocabulary is the shortest path toward claiming total control over a country’s thoughts.
Language is the battleground for ideas. Which words become common and which go out of style record the advances and retreats of competing beliefs. People who use words as weapons understand that hijacking a country’s vocabulary is the shortest path toward claiming total control over a country’s thoughts. In a war of words, what is forbidden from being said out loud is more important than what is allowed.
Sometimes language bans are explicit, such as Ireland’s continuing crusade against so-called “hate” speech or Facebook’s policy directives to censor as “misinformation” any commentary questioning the effectiveness of COVID “vaccines.” In other instances, certain words are stigmatized until populations learn to see them as “politically incorrect,” if not downright vulgar or taboo. Whether enforced through official corporate policy, criminal statute, or polite society’s behavioral codes, the effect of limiting speech is identical: free expression is reduced to a verbal minefield.
Can I say that? Should I say that? Will I be punished for saying that? Just asking those questions encourages a degree of self-censorship unpalatable in any truly “free” society. If human innovation is a product of argument and debate, then any kind of debate that limits which words may be spoken also limits mankind’s capacity for discovery. Stifled thoughts lead to closed minds.
A June poll from the Commonwealth Foundation in Pennsylvania found that nearly 60% of Americans feel their right to free speech has significantly eroded in the last decade. Over 40% said that they or someone they know has self-censored during the last year to avoid punishment or harassment. “We have heard from numerous individuals who are bullied into silence and fear retaliation...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
That dude looks like a lady. An ugly one too, with crazy eyes. Can I say that?
Sarah Palin,the TeaParty..Trump.. were all from people who claimed they were supporters.
All the while they used the words of the left..and undermined the movement.
Sarah Palin,the TeaParty..Trump.. all had people who claimed they were supporters.
All the while they used the words of the left..and undermined the movement.
Calling horrific mutilation of children “gender affirming care” is the most grotesque of a long line of language hijackings.
See my tagline
The short version of the article
As Dennis Prager has accurately noted: Many Americans fear the Left more than they fear God.
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