Words Have Meaning—And Consequences

The other day, I published the first of a series of articles meant to help take back the language from the leftists and thereby help staunch the bleeding away of our liberties.

Mike, one of my Army buddies, Academy classmate and very good friend, commented that I might not be using my energy effectively in this effort. He said,

“With all due respect, I would stay away from writing articles about the use of semantics. It’s akin to the ‘wrestling a pig’ analogy…”

He followed up with a comment regarding Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s ability to discourse on economics with,

“This woman would never make it in my world, whether it be international business or in being my cleaning woman.”

Based on what I’ve seen and heard in the public domain, Mike is spot on with his second point. Although we both agreed that if targeted with some serious, directed and focused leadership, Rep Ocasio-Cortez might be qualified to mop a floor some day—maybe.

As to Mike’s first point, he’s partially correct. Arguing semantics for semantics’s sake, or merely to win a minor tactical argument is useless; and of course, “the pig [still] loves it.”

My real concern, articulated far less than ably in the aforementioned article, is that the leftists keep changing the terms of the debate, often with the acquiescence of folks supposedly on our side and sometimes even with their support, intentional or not. As I’ve mentioned previously, even self-proclaimed (and registered as such) Conservative, Sean Hannity, keeps referring to MedicAid as an “entitlement,” often conflating it with MediCare (an earned benefit) instead of the taxpayer supported and unconstitutional Federal charity program it clearly is.

How far does this deliberate misuse of our language go? Let’s look to the birthplace of our mother tongue, England and the town of Hichen. Our very own Dana Pico notes in his excellent article, “The Truth Shall Land You In Jail,” that a British mother was arrested in front of her children for referring to a transgender “woman,” as a man, in an online post. The source of the complaint against her, was go figure, a transgender activist and obviously disordered male, who has a history of using distorted language and the law to browbeat ordinary citizens into legal and pecuniary submission.

Pico’s article contains a couple of links that are interesting in and of themselves. I’d encourage everyone to read the article and check out the embedded links. They show just one example of just how far the leftists can go if we don’t get control of the language and if we allow them to keep control of it while using it as a legal cudgel against us.

In this particular case they’ve been allowed to define a man’s sex based on his feelings, as opposed to his DNA, Chromosomes and “OEM equipment,” while making logical dissent from this perverse absurdity, a criminal offense. If you think it can’t or won’t happen here, I would remind you of our very own Christian baker, who although winning his case at the US Supreme Court, is still hemorrhaging money because the leftists in his state government are still going after him, despite the aforementioned SCOTUS Ruling.

Words mean things. If we fail to defend their historic and logical meaning, the leftists will redefine them and use them against us. Please look for future follow up articles on this very issue.

Mike Ford is a retired Infantry Officer who writes on Military, Foreign Affairs, Political and Economic matters.

You can find his other Red State work here.

He is also (somewhat reluctantly) on Twitter: @MikeFor10394583

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