Over the years I've written numerous articles about Word Hijacking(1|2|3|4). In this case I want to indicate this is just my loaded emotional phrasing of word redefinition. This is one of the most insidious things happening and if you want to blame specific tactics that are causing the problems in the world I personally believe this is at the root of most of them.
We think in words. If the definition of a word is changed then a path of thought is changed. People may think this is good. I contend in this particular case it is NEVER good. That meaning and definition will have been established and already used.
If a word has had meaning for some time it will likely have ended up in literature, scientific journals, historical accounts, and even other forms of media. When you know the meaning of the word you can properly interpret and understand those things from the past when you encounter them. If the meaning is changed (often to be almost the opposite of the original meaning these days) and that is the only meaning you are aware of you cannot properly understand or interpret those things.
Likewise if the goal of words is to communicate knowledge, and enable rapid communication and exchanges between people then if people speaking the same language but only knowing completely different meanings of the words will struggle in their communication. They may eventually succeed but for that to happen they will need to spend a large amount of time explaining definitions so each person will have proper context. This is extremely wasteful. In many cases the people may not bother. They may not have the patience. They may not have the time. The redefined meaning may lead to conflict and hate (perhaps as it was intended).
Now some people may say that people can know the multiple meanings. The problem is that you cannot insure that. Furthermore, it is basing your thoughts on NOW and ignoring the FUTURE. If I know that the word Liberal usually refers to a person who believes in freedom and tolerance. Yet we look at the people claiming to be Liberals today who are often the complete opposite of that. Now consider people in the future (and it is already happening today) that when they think Liberal they think of these intolerant jerks that are using the label today. What do you think they will consider the word Liberal?
You don't have to imagine. I see people referring to bad people and bad actors as Liberals on a regular basis. The problem is by the true meaning of the word Liberal those bad actors are nothing of the sort. They simply are "identifying" as liberal.
Now consider people that have lived this way who go back and are studying history and they keep seeing the word liberal. Do you think they will have a proper mental image for what these people in the past actually were like? I can assure you they will not if they are comparing them to the people "identifying" as liberals today.
This is a huge problem and it is being used to divide us, make us fight, make us afraid, and to rewrite history by simply changing the meaning of words.
If you go along with the hijacked definitions you are giving into the mind control. You have ceded mental territory. We are so fixated on looking at the physical I think we often fail to notice that our mind is kind of a territory as well. It is actually likely a far more important territory than the physical. You can move. You cannot get a different mind.
Thus, I decided awhile ago that I would fight back against this.
When I see someone I know using a hijacked definition I challenge it. I make it clear I understand what they are saying and why. I tell them that I am only pointing out the true definition of the word because we think in words and I don't want someone to change how they think simply by changing the meaning of words.
I do have a word I use for the people that are usually the bad liberals, or people pushing the "identify" as type crap with any true believing (so not the people doing it as a joke or for satirical reasons) as "Leftists". Why? That didn't have a very distinct meaning that I saw. I mean we have the Overton window and what has been referred to as Left and Right but it was not clearly defined. I thus use "Leftist" right now myself when referring to people pushing this agenda.
I do not call them Progressives, because as with Liberal there is nothing particularly progressive about them. They are actually quite regressive if you've paid attention and studied history. Thus those being bashed as progressives. Nah to me those are just "Leftists" who are "identifying" as Progressives.
Progressive generally means to try new things, move forward, and is generally an embodiment of experimentation. It is not the casting aside of ideas. It is often the bringing together of ideas and cultures and trying new things built upon those combinations.
Bringing back segregation is not progressive. It is regressive.
This sickness is largely riding upon the concept of being able to identify as whatever you want. In the past we called that imagination. I don't think many of us have problems imagining whatever they want. We simply used to have problems with people trying to force other people into believing their imagination is real.
If you wanted to imagine yourself as a woman even though you were born with a penis and had male genetics. That wasn't really my business. Until you started forcing me to treat you as one. Until I started being threatened with job loss, prison, etc. if I would not accept your imagination as truth.
I am totally for freedom of anyone until they start thinking they can infringe upon the freedoms of others. You are free to imagine whatever you want. You are not free to force me to believe what you believe.
If you can convince governments and laws to force me that doesn't make it suddenly a good thing. That just is an indication you have successfully corrupted government more than it already was and you are pushing it more towards authoritarianism and if history is any indicator eventual horrors/atrocities.
Horrors can manifest in many ways. I contend that many of the horrors currently happening in the world have their seeds in hijacked words. Words that no longer fit what they mean if you have studied history and are familiar with words.
I personally BELIEVE (I don't use that word lightly) that there should be no forbidden words. There will always be words that are distasteful to people for many different reasons. People should still be able to speak them. I don't think there should be any banned words. We should also be able to use any racial slur of a word or otherwise bigoted word we want.
Why?
By banning the use of the word you also get rid of one of the windows into the character of a person.
WARNING OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE AHEAD
I am going to use some words from this point on that many (likely most) of you will find very offensive. I can say this is the first time I've ever written this word in many decades(that I can remember), and it is something I don't say out loud.
The word Nigger. I am not black so I am not allowed in current society to say that word without outrage. If I were black I'd be free to use it. I don't think it should be banned from anyone. If I was free to use that word on a regular basis and I chose to use it wouldn't that tell you a lot about my character?
So would you rather me dress the wolf up like a sheep or do you want to be able to see the wolf?
If so then why would you ban one of the most useful tools for quickly letting you know the character of other people?
By banning it all you do is make it so you can't see them for who they really are.
This applies to ALL words whether they are fuck, shit, bitch, asshole, cunt, or any other word that is distasteful. I do not use these words myself outside of this post. I've been known to use them verbally when I am particularly angry and I am not pleased with myself when I do. People who know me are shocked and know it is serious if they hear it.
Then there are people in my family who use fuck like it is punctuation for a sentence. They use it so much that it has no emotional weight when they use it. If they were extremely angry you would not know it by the presence of that word because they use it so frequently.
It is a personal choice.
Banning words is simply another way to separate us and provide ways to attack someone as a bad person. They are a profaner. They are a racist.
Neither of these may be true depending upon their culture, how they were raised, how tolerant their upbringing was, and without knowing their true intent. You cannot know anyone's true intent except your own unless you happen to be a mind reader or they themselves tell you their intent.
These days I see a lot of people reacting to words that were not said. They'll say things like "he was implying X" when X wasn't mentioned anywhere. This is a pet peeve of mine. I've had people say that I was implying things that never entered my mind on numerous occasions. I've gotten into the habit of saying unless I am writing poetry, song lyrics, etc. I try to avoid implying anything that you need to secretly understand. I try to state only what I am thinking. If you must add things that I didn't explicitly say then those things happened in your head, not mine.
Some people like to play word games with hidden meanings. Usually you can tell when that is the intent. I don't by default assume people are doing that. To do so seems counter productive. Having to guess what someone means slows down the entire process. If I ever do it in conversation it is when there is someone present that has inside knowledge so knows what I am talking about so it is more a game between myself and them. They would have had to have discussed such things with me before. I wouldn't use it on people that were not familiar with it. That would be a stupid way to communicate, assuming everyone I spoke to knew the inside jokes between my friends and I.
Words are one of the most important things in all of our lives.
Don't you think defending them should be equally important?
If new ideas arise. Give them a new word. Don't hijack an existing one.
Please join me in this battle. If you see them redefining words. Speak up. Say NO.
If they point you to dictionaries then tell them to look at older dictionaries and also refer them to a logical fallacy taught in critical thinking. It is known as the Appeal to Authority (aka Argument From Authority fallacy).
A dictionary is simply a tool created by people. It is useful if you don't know a word to try to learn words. It is made by people though so it is going to be biased. I also haven't seen any process by which a specific dictionary is given authority. In fact, it seems like anyone can make a dictionary. If people like their product they use it.
If the dictionary says what certain groups want it to say they are likely to use that dictionary.
If the definition is changed to appeal to political, and ideological sway then I say that corrupts our history and our thinking. If there are new ideas they deserve new words.
Hopefully I presented this in a way that had meaning. To me this is one of the most important things to be aware of that is currently going on.
I too sometimes use hijacked words until I become aware. Then I try to fight that. I want control of my own mind. I don't want to be a proverbial puppet.
In parting... Science, Racism, Fascism, Nazi, etc. are all words frequently used these days in references to things that do not fit the usage of those words. It is causing dilution and loss of meaning in those words. In some cases they are words we have been conditioned to hate and get angry over so when they use "Racist" for example on someone that didn't say anything about race there is often an almost Pavlovian anger, distrust, and hostility to the target that was labeled. People don't stop to think about whether the label fit. They just let their emotions drive. Science is another word that often is used today on things that have nothing to do with science and are far removed from the scientific method.