All Maine Matters
Because All of Maine DOES Matter!
Vol. 1, No. 8 August 2006 FREE
Language and Liberty
by Ken Anderson
From one perspective, history is a struggle for the minds, bodies, and property of other human beings; from another, it is essentially a struggle for their souls. But in all respects, it is one in which control of language can have great impact. At Babel, language was confused by God in order to bring about a diversity in thinking, with the possibility of separate and distinct developments.
However, we fail to understand one another not only when we speak different languages, but also when we use the same words with contradictory meanings. George Orwell, the author of the bestselling novel, “1984,” would be able to appreciate the world in which we live today.
Does the word “republic” mean anything to anyone anymore? I suppose it does, but it means so many different things to so many different people that it may as well have no definition at all.
This is true even within this country, where we can no longer come up with a reasonable answer to the question of what it means to be a Republican, or what it means to be a Democrat, whose reasons for remaining opposing political parties are more greatly blurred with each election cycle.
The meaning of the word “liberty” is not clarified by its dictionary definitions, but has as many faces as there are political parties and religions. Perhaps the most common definition of the word would imply that my side wins, whichever side I might be on.
How many times have you been told that our founding fathers were “deists” and not Christians? No, I assure you that our founding fathers haven’t abandoned their faith in the last two hundred and thirty years, but the meaning of the word has changed somewhat over the years. By ascribing today’s definition to someone who lived more than two hundred years ago, we are led to believe that our founding fathers weren’t really Christians at all.
The slight changes in the definition of the word may have been a natural occurance, but it is being used to the advantage of those whose agenda calls for a rejection of the role that Christianity played in the the formation of the United States of America.
In some ways, the very fact that we share a common language, and use the same words, can confuse the issues more than if we were speaking foreign languages; because then, at least we could find an interpreter.
Part of this is due to a natural evolution of language. In general usage, words and other forms of communication change over time, often so slowly as to be almost imperceptable.
But other changes are assumed, and intended to bring about confusion, perhaps to bring about a change in perception. There was a time when parents wanted their children to be gay, but not homosexual. The word has, for all practical purposes, been hijacked by people who perhaps hope that, while the definition has changed, the perception would remain the same.
Our language is very much in flux today, not so much due to the natural order of such things, but intentionally. Turbulence in language and communication can bring about cultural confusion, which is often used to bring about a change in the way that we look at things.
Thus, policies that are intended to harm the economy and reduce the populations in rural areas are known as “smart growth” or “sustainable development,” while the non-profit organizations that bring this about are called “economic development organizations.”
The word “conspiracy” is now automatically followed by the word “theory,” no matter how many facts there are to prove that the conspiracy genuinely exists, while the “theory of evolution” is taught to our children as fact.
The deliberate misuse of language is apparent all around us. The term “equal rights” is used to ensure that some people are granted more rights under the law than others, for example.
Some of us may be old enough to remember when “fundamental” was a good word, and not something that can be used as an excuse for imprisoning or shooting you.
God confused the language at Babel for His purposes, but Satan is doing so today.
Ken is, among other things, the editor of the online news outlet Magic City Morning Star, on the web at http://magic-city-news.com.