Words
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 (King James Translation).
Words Matter. Language matters. Phrases matter. Our culture, our politics, our religious beliefs, our decisions, large and small, and our daily lives are all influenced in myriad ways, direct and indirect, which arise from the overt and implied meaning, connotations, implications, nuances, expectations and effects of the words we hear and speak and write and read and sing and listen to every day.
Legally effective and accurate wording, clearly and correctly communicating intended understandings, can save or cost real money in the real world of business and law. The understood meaning of words spoken between friends, spouses, parents and children, siblings, partners, and/or teammates will bond or strengthen or sever their relationships. Even in fields where numbers matter more than words, technically accurate terminology must also be utilized, with the numbers, to allow medicines to be properly administered, bridges to stand, airplanes to fly. Effective employment and deployment of the English language set apart Adams, Jefferson, Paine, Hamilton, Madison, Morris, Henry, Jay, Lincoln, Churchill, Kennedy, Reagan, and allowed them to alter history.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 (King James Translation).
Words Matter. Language matters. Phrases matter. Our culture, our politics, our religious beliefs, our decisions, large and small, and our daily lives are all influenced in myriad ways, direct and indirect, which arise from the overt and implied meaning, connotations, implications, nuances, expectations and effects of the words we hear and speak and write and read and sing and listen to every day.
Legally effective and accurate wording, clearly and correctly communicating intended understandings, can save or cost real money in the real world of business and law. The understood meaning of words spoken between friends, spouses, parents and children, siblings, partners, and/or teammates will bond or strengthen or sever their relationships. Even in fields where numbers matter more than words, technically accurate terminology must also be utilized, with the numbers, to allow medicines to be properly administered, bridges to stand, airplanes to fly. Effective employment and deployment of the English language set apart Adams, Jefferson, Paine, Hamilton, Madison, Morris, Henry, Jay, Lincoln, Churchill, Kennedy, Reagan, and allowed them to alter history.
It has been argued that language is what differentiates us from every other beast and animal in the world, and the invention of language marked the beginning of humanity qua humanity, as opposed to humanity qua just one other mammal. Tom Wolfe: http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/tom-wolfe-lecture
A government which wishes to remove threatening concepts from the minds of its citizens would do well to take over their dictionaries. Orwell: "It would have been quite impossible to render [the preamble to the Declaration of Independence] into Newspeak [the fictional, government-controlled language of 1984] while keeping to the sense of the original. The nearest one could come to doing so would be to swallow the whole passage up in the single word crimethink. A full translation could only be an ideological translation, whereby Jefferson's words would be changed into a panegyric on absolute government."
Modern Orwellians in our Universities are busily banning words to fulfill this vision. The phrase "man up" has recently been forbidden at Duke. Too sexist. Another recent target: "bossy" which feminists are campaigning to prohibit, especially when referring to girls and women, which I presume is a sort of preemptive strike on behalf of Hillary's presidential candidacy. If you find the campaign to ban bossy to be a little, um, I don't know, authoritarian, ironic, lacking in self-awareness, well, that's just fine, as long as you don't call it bossy. Personally, I want my daughters to be bossy. I want them to be a boss. Remember the self-contradicting and self-parodying wisdom of George Lucas: Only a Sith speaks in absolutes.
I'm not too worried about the modern Orwellian word-banners. Human nature being what it is, our response to their bossy demands will likely lead to more resistance than compliance.
What I worry about is something more insidious. Taking existing words and phrases and recasting them to mean something they have never meant before, so that, instead of banning concepts by banning the words which express them, you prevent the future human mind from ever understanding those concepts in the first place, as the words which would heretofore have been utilized to express those concepts have been co-opted and turned into symbols for some other concept, entirely different than the intended original. So our values are changed, not via direct assault, but by co-option and transformation of the words that previously reflected those values. If the major task of civilization is to transmit its values to the incoming horde of barbarians who arrive in our maternity wards each year, and if you want to prevent that transmission from occurring, what do you do? Change the meaning of the old words, so the old values can't be taught. As C.S. Lewis said: "when . . . you have killed a word you have also, as far as in you lay, blotted from the human mind the thing that word originally stood for. Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say."
Marriage
The most overt implementation of this strategy has obviously been in regard to the word "marriage" which heretofore meant (i) the legal union (ii) intended to be sexually exclusive (iii) between a male husband and a female wife, (iv) usually publicly solemnized, typically before one authorized to so officiate (v) and consummated through coitus, the act by which male and female fulfill the biblical injunction and biological imperative to become one flesh (after which, the now completed marriage cannot be annulled, but may only be formally terminated via divorce). Does the word marriage matter? Do each of its elements? Sure. Among other things, the concept of marriage, so defined, being centered on procreation and family life, ensures that any child who comes into the marriage will have the benefit of being reared by the child's biological mother and biological father, and where marriage is an expectation before childbirth, our species thereby continues, via the replacement of current humans with a new set who have been given the best possible chance at a successful life. Are any of the items I have listed as its elements so core to the meaning of marriage that without one or more of these elements you do not have a full and complete marriage? If not, which parts can you remove, and still have the word retain the essence of its meaning? At what point, having removed this or that element of the definition, does it become impossible to differentiate between a marriage and a friendship? Or a marriage and a business partnership? Or a marriage and two people sitting near each other on a bus?
Can the term marriage be "expanded" to include new relationships not heretofore covered by that term, without the essential concept of marriage simply being destroyed? A Gedankenexperiment: Let us "expand" the definition of a triangle so that it now includes both three-sided and four-sided polygons. Have we enhanced the concept of triangularity? Made it more inclusive? Or have we simply destroyed its very essence? Have we rendered numerous mathematical truths false, or simply linguistically un-teachable? Is there a difference? If you don't know the answers, you don't know the most important thing about words. A word must mean something, or it does not mean anything, in which event it serves no purpose. To mean something necessarily excludes meaning something else, including something less or something more or something close but still fundamentally different (excluding homonyms, the recognition and categorization of which proves the rule). A concept, to be worthy of a word, must have an essence, which will include both core constitutive elements and exclude non-elements, or the word related to the concept will cease to perform its basic function: to mean something which the speaker and the listener can both understand, and not to mean something else.
By teaching that a particular core constitutive element of marriage (the rule of opposite genders) is not, in fact, part of the definition, we also teach, by implication, that the concept of marriage is so inchoate and mutable as to have no essence, so that the concept symbolized by the word "marriage" will eventually simply go away, and with it the institution, and the expectations affiliated with that institution, which have stabilized society for millenniums, by ensuring that each new-born individual has the best possible chance at life: a chance most likely to be afforded if each such individual is able to be raised and cared for by both of her biological parents, with exceptions to be afforded solely where necessary as in the best interests of the child (not merely to gratify the desires of any adult). Many of the fiercest advocates for redefined marriage are increasingly willing to acknowledge that abolishing the entire concept of marriage is the true point and ultimate goal of their movement, which is not designed merely to afford same-sex couples the same legal rights as traditional married couples (which could be accomplished in other ways, with other words), but to lay waste to the very concept of marriage as a normative institution furthering previously accepted societal expectations (including by rejecting not just one, but, eventually, all of the elements of marriage), and rejecting them altogether.
Don't believe me? Do some reading:
http://www.beyondmarriage.org/
http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2012/12/monogamy-exclusivity-and-permanence
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/20/opinion/george-gay-marriage/
Is this crusade to abolish the concept of marriage succeeding? Words having the power that they have, and altering their meaning having the effect which that will have, of course it is. How could it not? In the ten years since marriage as the union of any two persons was introduced into America by the Massachussets Supreme Court, the number of new marriages has dropped to its lowest per capita level in American history, and over 50% of newborn children whose mothers are under 30 are now born to an unmarried mom. Also a first in our history. Take away the word, and you take away the concept. Take away the concept, and you take away the expectation. Take away the expectation and you take away the behavior. Change the behavior, and destroy the culture. Aren't we all proud for having created a more just and compassionate society? Except of course, if you're one of the newborn children of our brave new world, deprived of your inherent right to know both your mom and also your dad.
Authenticity
Because the attempt to redefine marriage out of existence has happened in the courts and at the ballot box, it's been easy to take a stand, one way or the other, on the question of whether one agrees or disagrees with that movement. But for most words and phrases, the redefining has been much more subtle. A political party or an academic school of thought starts using a phrase in a certain way, their allies in the news and entertainment media pick it up, or their enemies resist, and soon, the culture having shifted, you can't be understood if you are using the same term or phrase in the old way. The movies, song lyrics, textbooks, and other leading cultural indicators reframe our use of cultural terminology, and pretty soon it becomes difficult to explain to your children what your values are, because the words you are using to do so don't mean the same thing to you as they mean to them. A person whose values primarily come from scripture speaks to a person whose values primarily come from cable-tv and they find they are speaking past each other, even though they seem to be using the same words.
Let us take for example the word "authentic" or the related phrase, "being true to who you really are/ being true to your true self." As we are all children of God, I would use this phrase to mean trying to be true to my best self and highest nature, by seeking to act in accordance with God's will. (I fail. Completely and totally and pretty much every hour of every day. Nevertheless, that's what I think we ought to attempt, if we want to live lives which are true and authentic to who we really are.) Under this definition, being authentic, or true to our true natures, involves putting off our base desires, and seeking to become more like Him in whose image we are created. Too religious for you? Then how about this: Let us (in Aristotle's terminology) instantiate more perfectly the rationally discernible form and purpose of a human. Not religious enough? Then let's try this: Let us fulfill, as best we can, the measure of our creation. This sense of authenticity is described in Mosiah 3:19: "For the natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." So, to be true to your Father's purpose and character, you must put off the merely physical and natural elements of your being. An example of this type of authenticity may be found at the end of Beauty and the Beast, in which the Beast overcomes the curse and becomes a prince.
However, in our post-modern world, many people now use the term authentic to mean just the opposite of fulfilling the true measure of our creation. To many moderns, who deny man's inherent divinity and dignity, to be authentic means to embrace the physical, non-spiritual, aspects of your nature, which are after all the only "true" aspects of that nature if you're just a primate. To be authentic, in this point of view, means giving in to your physical desires, even defining yourself in accordance therewith, whether or not those desires will help or hinder you in fulfilling the measure of your creation or instantiating more perfectly your rationally discernible form and purpose. See, for example, someone who leaves their spouse to pursue a love affair because to do so is "being true to my true feelings" and staying in a relationship in which I am not, at least at the moment, this week, feeling "fulfilled" in order to honor my marital vows, and give my spouse and children the benefits of a loving stable marriage and home would be "inauthentic" and would not be "true to who I really am." An example of this meaning of authenticity may be found at the end of Shrek, in which the princess is celebrated for deciding to be true to her inner ogre.
Robert P. George's incredible book, Conscience and Its Enemies, described these competing views on the meaning of "authenticity" with a story about George Washington. Some students at Princeton were taken aback by a lecture from two Washington biographers, who explained that, in his youth, Washington had "formed a picture of the kind of person he would like to be and then tried to become that person by acting the way that person would act. . . . He sought to make himself virtuous by ridding himself of wayward desires or passions that would have no place in the character and life of the noble individual he sought to emulate and, by emulating, to become." As George explained: "For someone who understands and believes in" certain "classical" ideals, including that "of self-mastery, there is nothing in the least inauthentic about Washington's approach. On the contrary . . . Washington sought to be master of himself rather than a slave to his desires. But to some of the students, Washington's conduct seemed radically inauthentic. He was play acting, they protested; he wasn't really being himself. He was trying to live a life that wasn't his own, because he wasn't affirming and following his desires; rather, he was trying to reshape his desires in line with standards drawn from, as one of them put it, 'outside himself.'" Robert P. George, Conscience and Its Enemies, (ISI Books, 2013) at pp. 33-34. What a sad understanding of what it means to be authentic, but how typical of our Shrekified world. George goes on: "Not all the students saw things this way, but we can explain why some of them did. They had drunk deeply of the Kool-Aid of . . . a conception rooted in a profoundly misguided notion of what a person is: a soulless self, governed by desires, whose liberation consists in freeing himself, or being freed, from constraints on those desires . . . . They had not so much as considered the alternative view of man . . . namely, the human being as a rational creature, capable of understanding reasons in light of which he can become the practitioner of virtues that enable him to master his desires." Id.
A Rosetta Stone
A Rosetta Stone
Herewith therefore, as though preserved in amber, some important words, and what they mean to me (which, because I'm an arrogant person, I will describe as the "correct original meaning"), versus what they increasingly seem to mean to those around me, especially those who are younger than me (which I will label the "postmodern meaning" because I don't understand what "postmodern" means, in the same way that I don't understand why these words have had their definitions changed, but I'm pretty sure that post-modernism, whatever that is, had something to do with it.) So, consider the following as a sort of generational, or at least cultural / attitudinal, Rosetta Stone, which can be used so that people who have been raised on screens can understand how people like me, raised in an earlier era, when there were fewer screens and more books, understand life, the universe, and everything:
Accountability (correct original meaning): Accepting responsibility for the reasonably foreseeable and likely consequences of one's actions.
Accountability (postmodern meaning): An archaic belief utilized to allow people in power to oppress the powerless by claiming that the powerless have free will and should therefore be punished for wrongdoing, despite the overwhelming consensus among evolutionary psychologists (whose hypotheses are inherently un-testable and which can therefore never be questioned) that free will is an illusion.
Amoral (correct original meaning): Worse than immoral, as being psychotically unaware of the very possibility of morality.
Amoral (postmodern meaning): 1. Moral. 2. A meaningless term, given the equal meaninglessness of the terms morality and immorality.
Bullying (correct original meaning): Meanly and needlessly harassing or demeaning or teasing or hazing a victim who may be unable or unwilling to confront the bully due to being physically smaller or less socially popular than the bully. As in: "That kid's a big bully, without a brain in his head or a heart in his chest. Someone needs to confront him and knock that smirk off his face and protect and befriend his victim."
Bullying (postmodern meaning): Being opposed to same-sex marriage. As in: "And now students, an anti-bullying advocate from GLAAD, Dan Savage, will be addressing our assembly, and will be cussing at, screaming at, mocking and attacking students who believe in Christianity and pre-marital chastity, so those students will stop being such bullies."
Diversity (correct original meaning): An environment in which one is exposed to many different ideas.
Diversity (postmodern meaning): An environment in which one is exposed to many different people, with different skin colors and ethnic backgrounds, but who all exhibit ideological conformity, and think exactly the same, especially about the importance of (non-ideological) diversity. As in the following sentences: "In order to promote diversity, the tenure and faculty committee granted tenure to a Puerto Rican Marxist, a Lesbian Marxist, and a White Male Marxist, but of course rejected the application of the African-American Conservative, as being insufficiently diverse, since we already have two African-Americans on the faculty, and we certainly don't want our students being exposed to such a professor's beliefs." "Remember, we are all diverse, but some of us are more diverse than others."
Education (correct original meaning): The acquisition of knowledge, intellectual and vocational skills, and learning how to think.
Education (postmodern meaning): The acquisition of politically correct beliefs and attitudes, and learning what to think.
Equality (correct original meaning): The treatment to which we are entitled before the law and in the eyes of the government, regardless of our age, sex, race, etc. "Everyone's vote should count equally."
Equality (post-modern meaning): Redistribution of outcomes.
Imperialism (correct original meaning): The takeover of another people's land, and exploitation of its resources, by foreigners, for the benefit of the foreigners' native country.
Imperialism (post-modern meaning): The United States' policy of containment and hostility to Communism during the Cold War and its current policies opposing radical Islamist terrorism.
Justice (correct original meaning): Justice. Arriving at a fair and equitable result in a civil controversy between two litigants, or in a criminal controversy between the state and a criminal defendant, based on previously established laws and procedures, which were created in an objective and impartial prior setting.
"[Justice may be obtained only] so we are taught, by recourse to law. By recourse to and devotion to those laws made impartially, without respect to individuals, and applied impartially." David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge (Sentinel 2011) p. 148.
Justice (post-modern meaning): Social Justice. The quest for cosmic universal fairness or "Social Justice" which is based on the refusal to accept that the universe is inherently unfair, especially in a free society, and the desire to remedy all inequality of outcomes and results, which will necessarily require providing the government with totalitarian powers. Forced redistribution of income and wealth. "What is 'social justice'? It is not merely an oxymoron. It is, inherently, the notion that there is a supergovernmental, superlegal responsibility upon the right-thinking to implement their visions. . . . . [True justice which attempts to find justice through equality of opportunity] is antithetical to that equality of result [or 'social justice'] beloved of the Left; one might have one or the other, but they each are the other's negation, and one must choose." David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge (Sentinel 2011) p. 153.
Accountability (correct original meaning): Accepting responsibility for the reasonably foreseeable and likely consequences of one's actions.
Accountability (postmodern meaning): An archaic belief utilized to allow people in power to oppress the powerless by claiming that the powerless have free will and should therefore be punished for wrongdoing, despite the overwhelming consensus among evolutionary psychologists (whose hypotheses are inherently un-testable and which can therefore never be questioned) that free will is an illusion.
Amoral (correct original meaning): Worse than immoral, as being psychotically unaware of the very possibility of morality.
Amoral (postmodern meaning): 1. Moral. 2. A meaningless term, given the equal meaninglessness of the terms morality and immorality.
Bullying (correct original meaning): Meanly and needlessly harassing or demeaning or teasing or hazing a victim who may be unable or unwilling to confront the bully due to being physically smaller or less socially popular than the bully. As in: "That kid's a big bully, without a brain in his head or a heart in his chest. Someone needs to confront him and knock that smirk off his face and protect and befriend his victim."
Bullying (postmodern meaning): Being opposed to same-sex marriage. As in: "And now students, an anti-bullying advocate from GLAAD, Dan Savage, will be addressing our assembly, and will be cussing at, screaming at, mocking and attacking students who believe in Christianity and pre-marital chastity, so those students will stop being such bullies."
Diversity (correct original meaning): An environment in which one is exposed to many different ideas.
Diversity (postmodern meaning): An environment in which one is exposed to many different people, with different skin colors and ethnic backgrounds, but who all exhibit ideological conformity, and think exactly the same, especially about the importance of (non-ideological) diversity. As in the following sentences: "In order to promote diversity, the tenure and faculty committee granted tenure to a Puerto Rican Marxist, a Lesbian Marxist, and a White Male Marxist, but of course rejected the application of the African-American Conservative, as being insufficiently diverse, since we already have two African-Americans on the faculty, and we certainly don't want our students being exposed to such a professor's beliefs." "Remember, we are all diverse, but some of us are more diverse than others."
Education (correct original meaning): The acquisition of knowledge, intellectual and vocational skills, and learning how to think.
Education (postmodern meaning): The acquisition of politically correct beliefs and attitudes, and learning what to think.
Equality (correct original meaning): The treatment to which we are entitled before the law and in the eyes of the government, regardless of our age, sex, race, etc. "Everyone's vote should count equally."
Equality (post-modern meaning): Redistribution of outcomes.
Imperialism (correct original meaning): The takeover of another people's land, and exploitation of its resources, by foreigners, for the benefit of the foreigners' native country.
Imperialism (post-modern meaning): The United States' policy of containment and hostility to Communism during the Cold War and its current policies opposing radical Islamist terrorism.
Justice (correct original meaning): Justice. Arriving at a fair and equitable result in a civil controversy between two litigants, or in a criminal controversy between the state and a criminal defendant, based on previously established laws and procedures, which were created in an objective and impartial prior setting.
"[Justice may be obtained only] so we are taught, by recourse to law. By recourse to and devotion to those laws made impartially, without respect to individuals, and applied impartially." David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge (Sentinel 2011) p. 148.
Justice (post-modern meaning): Social Justice. The quest for cosmic universal fairness or "Social Justice" which is based on the refusal to accept that the universe is inherently unfair, especially in a free society, and the desire to remedy all inequality of outcomes and results, which will necessarily require providing the government with totalitarian powers. Forced redistribution of income and wealth. "What is 'social justice'? It is not merely an oxymoron. It is, inherently, the notion that there is a supergovernmental, superlegal responsibility upon the right-thinking to implement their visions. . . . . [True justice which attempts to find justice through equality of opportunity] is antithetical to that equality of result [or 'social justice'] beloved of the Left; one might have one or the other, but they each are the other's negation, and one must choose." David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge (Sentinel 2011) p. 153.
Liberated (correct original meaning) Freed from slavery, subjugation, or addiction. "With my church's help, I was able to be liberated from my addiction to alcohol." "The allied forces successfully liberated France from Germany."
Liberated (post-modern meaning) Freed from restrictive and outmoded values based in superstition and bigotry. "With Oprah's help, I was able to be liberated from the restrictive values of my parents, so I could quit my boring job as an accountant, leave my wife and children who were bringing me down, join the commune and smoke pot and write poetry."
Libertarianism (correct original meaning): The false but comforting belief that a debauched and permissive society, full of fatherless homes and drug-infested neighborhoods, can maintain a small and non-intrusive government.
Libertarianism (postmodern meaning): The beliefs held by a Republican who is only 1/2 evil.
Marriage (correct original meaning): From the 1991 6th Edition Black's Law Dictionary: "Legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife. [Citation omitted.] Marriage . . . as distinguished from the act of becoming married, is the legal status, condition, or relation of one man and one woman united in law for life, or until divorced, for the discharge to each other and the community of the duties legally incumbent on those whose association is founded on the distinction of sex. A contract, according to the form prescribed by law, by which a man and woman capable of entering into such contract, mutually engage with each other to live their whole lives (or until divorced) together in that state of union which ought to exist between a husband and wife." (Copyright 1990 by West Publishing Company.)
Marriage (postmodern meaning): A term which will hopefully soon be obsolete (see, www.beyondmarriage.org) but which, in the meantime, may be utilized to mean whatever you and any other person or persons with whom you form a relationship, regardless of the precise nature of that relationship, and regardless of the gender or number of persons involved, want it to mean, and with respect to which your personal definition must be recognized and celebrated by all members of the community at large, under threat of social sanction, penalties issued by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission, and castigation for bigotry as against any non-complying members of the community, even though that community has no other legitimate interest in your marriage, however defined.
Patriotism (correct original meaning): Love of one's Country and desire to see one's country be prosperous and strong.
Patriotism (postmodern meaning): Parochial small-minded xenophobia exhibited by those who pay insufficient attention to becoming a citizen of the world.
Politics (correct original meaning): The methods by which human beings order their governmental affairs. As in: "He is interested in politics, and wants to be a consultant to his favored candidate in the upcoming election."
Politics (postmodern meaning): Everything. Everything is political. Thus, no work of music, literature, or art, may be studied for its aesthetic value or craftsmanship or intrinsic beauty or inherent value, but all works of art must instead be deconstructed for invidious political meanings, and critiqued for the ways in which they promulgate and support oppressive class structures.
Privileges (correct original meaning): Something which is provided or granted to you at the discretion of the government. To be differentiated from rights. As in the sentences: "You have the right to appeal your conviction, but appearing before the State Board of Pardons to seek clemency or a commuted sentence due to extenuating personal circumstances is a privilege not a right." "You have a right to obtain a business license upon the same reasonable terms which apply equally to anyone else who is similarly situated. You do not have a right to a concession to operate a business at the Airport; there being a limited number of spaces for rent, the granting of these concessions are under the sole discretion of the County Commission, and can be revoked upon your lease's expiration, at will, with or without cause."
Privileges (postmodern meaning): Rights. I have a right to let my cows graze on public land, whether the government provides me with another permit or not.
Progress (correct original meaning): Moving closer to the ideal.
Progress (postmodern meaning): Changing the ideal.
Purpose (correct original meaning): The reason why something exists, ascertainable from its form and function, in a universe which is clearly teeming with undeniable teleology. "The purpose of a man is to love a woman and the purpose of a woman is to love a man. So come on baby let's start today. Come on baby let's play. The game of love." Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.
Purpose (postmodern meaning): A false social construct designed to prevent people from pursuing what Justice Kennedy's notorious new-age magical mystery passage described as the heart of liberty: "the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life" which right can only exist if there is no objective truth such that "one's own concept" of the purpose of one's own life is as good as any other, there being no universal truth against which any particular version of one's own meaning may be judged.
Racism (correct original meaning): The belief that another person's race or ethnicity makes that person inherently inferior, morally, physically, or intellectually, to others of one's own race or ethnicity. The belief that the law should treat people differently and unequally based on the color of their skin.
Racism (postmodern meaning): The belief that the law should not treat people differently and unequally based on the color of their skin. Believing in the "equal protection" clause of the U.S. Constitution; opposing affirmative action in public university admissions or minority bidding preferences for public works contracts. A white male's insufficient feelings of guilt for his privileges and resultant unintended micro-aggressions towards those around him, and his failure to grasp that his skin color and his blood, inherited subject to the taint of original sins committed by his ancestors, make him an inherently less virtuous person than those around him who have a different skin color.
Responsibilities (correct original meaning): Tasks which are expected of an adult who wishes to be treated as a relevant human being and to act as a productive and contributing member of a free society. "You are an adult now, and you have a responsibility to provide for yourself, and for your family, to pay your taxes and to become educated about the issues facing our country so you can participate meaningfully in our society." See also, Duties.
Responsibilities (postmodern meaning): Obsolete terminology. No definition available.
Rights (correct original meaning): Restrictions on the government's powers in its interactions with me as one of its citizens. As in: "I have a right to due process, before the government can restrict my liberty or take away my property, meaning sufficient prior notice, a fairly conducted transparent hearing, and the right to confront and cross-examine my accusers." "I have a right to freely exercise my religion without government interference."
Rights (postmodern meaning): Wants. As in: "I have a right to a job, even if that takes away an employer's rights to make her own hiring and firing decisions." "I have a right to free health care, even if that takes away a physician's right to earn fair compensation after many long years of expensive higher education." "I have a right to let my cows graze on government land without signing a permit or paying fees, and regardless of whether the government wants to allow that use on its land or not." "I have a right to not be offended by hearing views in my classroom with which I disagree."
Sin (correct original meaning): Intentionally disobeying the commandments of God (something which, according to scripture and personal experience, we all do).
Sin (postmodern meaning): Being judgmental (which can, in fact, be a sin, but in the postmodern meaning is considered the only one).
Libertarianism (correct original meaning): The false but comforting belief that a debauched and permissive society, full of fatherless homes and drug-infested neighborhoods, can maintain a small and non-intrusive government.
Libertarianism (postmodern meaning): The beliefs held by a Republican who is only 1/2 evil.
Marriage (correct original meaning): From the 1991 6th Edition Black's Law Dictionary: "Legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife. [Citation omitted.] Marriage . . . as distinguished from the act of becoming married, is the legal status, condition, or relation of one man and one woman united in law for life, or until divorced, for the discharge to each other and the community of the duties legally incumbent on those whose association is founded on the distinction of sex. A contract, according to the form prescribed by law, by which a man and woman capable of entering into such contract, mutually engage with each other to live their whole lives (or until divorced) together in that state of union which ought to exist between a husband and wife." (Copyright 1990 by West Publishing Company.)
Marriage (postmodern meaning): A term which will hopefully soon be obsolete (see, www.beyondmarriage.org) but which, in the meantime, may be utilized to mean whatever you and any other person or persons with whom you form a relationship, regardless of the precise nature of that relationship, and regardless of the gender or number of persons involved, want it to mean, and with respect to which your personal definition must be recognized and celebrated by all members of the community at large, under threat of social sanction, penalties issued by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission, and castigation for bigotry as against any non-complying members of the community, even though that community has no other legitimate interest in your marriage, however defined.
Patriotism (correct original meaning): Love of one's Country and desire to see one's country be prosperous and strong.
Patriotism (postmodern meaning): Parochial small-minded xenophobia exhibited by those who pay insufficient attention to becoming a citizen of the world.
Politics (correct original meaning): The methods by which human beings order their governmental affairs. As in: "He is interested in politics, and wants to be a consultant to his favored candidate in the upcoming election."
Politics (postmodern meaning): Everything. Everything is political. Thus, no work of music, literature, or art, may be studied for its aesthetic value or craftsmanship or intrinsic beauty or inherent value, but all works of art must instead be deconstructed for invidious political meanings, and critiqued for the ways in which they promulgate and support oppressive class structures.
Privileges (correct original meaning): Something which is provided or granted to you at the discretion of the government. To be differentiated from rights. As in the sentences: "You have the right to appeal your conviction, but appearing before the State Board of Pardons to seek clemency or a commuted sentence due to extenuating personal circumstances is a privilege not a right." "You have a right to obtain a business license upon the same reasonable terms which apply equally to anyone else who is similarly situated. You do not have a right to a concession to operate a business at the Airport; there being a limited number of spaces for rent, the granting of these concessions are under the sole discretion of the County Commission, and can be revoked upon your lease's expiration, at will, with or without cause."
Privileges (postmodern meaning): Rights. I have a right to let my cows graze on public land, whether the government provides me with another permit or not.
Progress (correct original meaning): Moving closer to the ideal.
Progress (postmodern meaning): Changing the ideal.
Purpose (correct original meaning): The reason why something exists, ascertainable from its form and function, in a universe which is clearly teeming with undeniable teleology. "The purpose of a man is to love a woman and the purpose of a woman is to love a man. So come on baby let's start today. Come on baby let's play. The game of love." Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.
Purpose (postmodern meaning): A false social construct designed to prevent people from pursuing what Justice Kennedy's notorious new-age magical mystery passage described as the heart of liberty: "the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life" which right can only exist if there is no objective truth such that "one's own concept" of the purpose of one's own life is as good as any other, there being no universal truth against which any particular version of one's own meaning may be judged.
Racism (correct original meaning): The belief that another person's race or ethnicity makes that person inherently inferior, morally, physically, or intellectually, to others of one's own race or ethnicity. The belief that the law should treat people differently and unequally based on the color of their skin.
Racism (postmodern meaning): The belief that the law should not treat people differently and unequally based on the color of their skin. Believing in the "equal protection" clause of the U.S. Constitution; opposing affirmative action in public university admissions or minority bidding preferences for public works contracts. A white male's insufficient feelings of guilt for his privileges and resultant unintended micro-aggressions towards those around him, and his failure to grasp that his skin color and his blood, inherited subject to the taint of original sins committed by his ancestors, make him an inherently less virtuous person than those around him who have a different skin color.
Responsibilities (correct original meaning): Tasks which are expected of an adult who wishes to be treated as a relevant human being and to act as a productive and contributing member of a free society. "You are an adult now, and you have a responsibility to provide for yourself, and for your family, to pay your taxes and to become educated about the issues facing our country so you can participate meaningfully in our society." See also, Duties.
Responsibilities (postmodern meaning): Obsolete terminology. No definition available.
Rights (correct original meaning): Restrictions on the government's powers in its interactions with me as one of its citizens. As in: "I have a right to due process, before the government can restrict my liberty or take away my property, meaning sufficient prior notice, a fairly conducted transparent hearing, and the right to confront and cross-examine my accusers." "I have a right to freely exercise my religion without government interference."
Rights (postmodern meaning): Wants. As in: "I have a right to a job, even if that takes away an employer's rights to make her own hiring and firing decisions." "I have a right to free health care, even if that takes away a physician's right to earn fair compensation after many long years of expensive higher education." "I have a right to let my cows graze on government land without signing a permit or paying fees, and regardless of whether the government wants to allow that use on its land or not." "I have a right to not be offended by hearing views in my classroom with which I disagree."
Sin (correct original meaning): Intentionally disobeying the commandments of God (something which, according to scripture and personal experience, we all do).
Sin (postmodern meaning): Being judgmental (which can, in fact, be a sin, but in the postmodern meaning is considered the only one).
Spiritual (correct original meaning): Religious. As Truman Madsen once noted, religion is to spirituality what language is to communication.
Spiritual (postmodern meaning): Non-religious. As in: "I'm spiritual but not religious."
Suppress (correct original meaning): Suppress. Exhibiting emotional maturity by not constantly giving in to the temptation to lose your temper. As in: "I suppressed my urge to scream at the person who cut me off in traffic, as I didn't want to give in to road rage and set a bad example for my child in the back seat."
Suppress (postmodern meaning): Repress. Exhibiting a psychologically damaging mode of living. As in: "You should treat people as rudely as you want to and not try to suppress your emotions to be polite or civil when you are feeling angry. Otherwise, you'll just be a ticking time bomb full of repressed anger."
Truth (correct original meaning): Things as they really are. That which is not false. There is such a thing as objective truth.
Truth (postmodern meaning): A false social construct. As in: "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Hamlet.
Suppress (correct original meaning): Suppress. Exhibiting emotional maturity by not constantly giving in to the temptation to lose your temper. As in: "I suppressed my urge to scream at the person who cut me off in traffic, as I didn't want to give in to road rage and set a bad example for my child in the back seat."
Suppress (postmodern meaning): Repress. Exhibiting a psychologically damaging mode of living. As in: "You should treat people as rudely as you want to and not try to suppress your emotions to be polite or civil when you are feeling angry. Otherwise, you'll just be a ticking time bomb full of repressed anger."
Truth (correct original meaning): Things as they really are. That which is not false. There is such a thing as objective truth.
Truth (postmodern meaning): A false social construct. As in: "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Hamlet.
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