Redefining the Words

One of my pet peeves is what the right has done to language with their Orwellian newspeak, doublespeak!

If you redefine words to fit your logic you can justify the most absurd conclusions. Equating the Soviet Union to socialism is only one example.

Here's an example. Obama has been accused of favoring infanticide by the religious right. Infanticide is the wanton killing of children too young to defend themselves. What Obama actually did was to vote against a couple of bills that were designed specifically to undermine Row v Wade. The bills ALSO contained language to protect newly born children ... but that language was not the point of the bill ... the language was boiler plate inclusions. By redefining the meaning of his vote, they smear him with sensationalism. Infanticide!! Who could possibly favor infanticide! Killing children is immoral! The bastard!!! Killing little children is an immoral crime that only a deranged and depraved sociopath could commit, right? Who can disagree with that?

Sidebar: Well, how about we revisit the plagues brought down on the Egyptians by Moses' prayers? It seems to me that one of the plagues was the death of all of Egypt's first born ... among them, innocent children. If the wanton slaughter of innocent children is immoral ... what should we say of that? Is God a sociopath? ... he kills innocent children wholesale.

The problem is, they've gotten so good at framing issues ... and the rest of us have gotten so lax at calling them on their slippery definitions; definitions that change to fit a current need. We have to hold them accountable for what they say. We must make them use the common definitions that we ALL agree on. We must work toward ending this twisting of meanings. We must not back down. We must not take them at their word without examining very carefully what they are saying and which words they are using to say it.

"Tax and spend" is another case of framing an issue with no one calling them on it. There are basically only two ways for a government to raise the revenue necessary to run a government ... either through taxes or through borrowing. But "tax and spend" is BAD. So that leaves only borrowing. Well, we've borrowed ourselves into bankruptcy because "tax and spend" is bad. So, lets re-frame the issue. Instead of allowing them to characterize it as "tax and spend", lets start calling it "pay as you go". You don't like "tax and spend" Mr. Conservative .... well, how do you feel about "pay as you go"? That's what families do ... that's real family values. Only the irresponsible borrow beyond their ability to repay.

"It's your money" with reference to the dollars our government has acquired in taxes is a popular framing of an issue. It's your money and we think you can use it more wisely than the government can! That has a powerful appeal ... if you think the government is something far away and not a part of your life. Well, it is your money ... and it's your government .. and those are your services that money is supposed to pay for, too. You yield your money in taxes so that your government can pay for all those services you can't provide for yourself. that's what government is for ... to provide for you what you cannot provide for yourself. They talk about tax relief and it's a popular idea. It's a good vote getter. What they don't tell you is those taxes were designed to underwrite specific services that we have demanded of our government. When you cut the taxes, you cut the funding for schools, police, the military, our infrastructure (remember those levies that collapsed during Katrina? the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis a couple years ago?) It's your money ... and in a democracy the government is "We the People" ... us .. you are the government ... and it's still your money and we pulled it together from all of us to do specific things. When you cut taxes, you have to replace the money somehow because the needs don't simply go away. Bridges and roads still need maintenance, the army needs to be equipped, fire departments need to be equipped, teachers need to get paid. So we resort to borrowing. How's that been working out for us?

But people buy into those bumper sticker phrases without thinking critically about them. Don't let the bastards fool you with the misuse of words and the cherry picking of facts - presenting only some facts and leaving other vital bits out. And then there are the outright lies and fabrications ... but I'll save that rant for another day.

I watched part of the Republican National Convention today. I can still taste the vomit in the back of my mouth.