I'm Back!

The nagging demands of the statist servile society has kept me away from Steemit recently. Sometimes, when trying to subvert the seemingly ubiquitous reach of "authority," there doesn't seem to enough time, enough energy, or even enough willpower to go on.

But, in an effort to incentivize myself, I've come up with an idea that I think will benefit readers of this blog and me at the same time.

As the title of this post suggests, I plan on taking one word every week and defining it, breaking down the actual meaning by tracing the words etymology and looking at how the original usage and connotation of the word have changed from its original creation.
(Maybe it will turn into Word of the Day in the future).

Knowledge is the Key to Understanding

Grammar, or the knowledge we take in, is the first step to logic, understanding and wisdom. It is the starting point of our journey through reason that will distinguish fact from fiction.
Today we are drowning in information. But is all the information right, or even relevant? And how are we to know? If the information we are given is false or incomplete then it stands to reason that the conclusion would be false as well.

Much like the concept of newspeak in George Orwell's 1984, our language has been bastardized to have no meaning other than what the State says. This has largely lead to a lack of understanding which ultimately has produced unquestioning, unthinking followers of "authority." In other words ... zombies!

It is important to truly understand the meanings of words that we use every day to understand and process all the information being thrown at us and separate the factual information from that which has been designed to deceive and obfuscate the truth.

Word of the Week: "Liberal"

Living in the South, in the conservative bible belt, I hear this term used in a derogatory sense a lot as well as somewhat creative variations like "libtard." The most well known connotation of the word is in the false left, right dichotomy of liberal and conservative or, respectively, left vs. right. I must point out again that this is a false dichotomy and a very effective use of the Hegelian Dialectic. While the use of dialectics is another topic for another time, it has some relevance to how the connotation of the word changed over time.

Definition

willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different than one's own; open to new ideas
1.1) favorable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms
1.2) favoring individual liberty, free trade, and moderate political and social reform
concerned with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training.
given, used, or occurring in generous amounts.
(especially of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal.

Etymology

From Latin Liberalis, Liber; meaning free (man), suitable for a free man, unimpeded, independent, outspoken, licentious, unrestrained.
Liber was also used for the word book and is where we get the term library and liberty.
Library - librarium - liber; book, book case, chest for books.

Liberal as an adjective meant; generous, nobly born or noble, free, selfless, magnanimous and admirable. Old French connotation was; befitting free people and in the 18th century meant free from prejudice, tolerant, not biggoted or narrow.

In reference to political opinion, "tending in favor of freedom and democracy fro. 1801 French libéral. In English, the label was first applied by opponents to the party more favorable to individual political freedoms.

More recently in U.S. politics tending to mean, "favorable to government action to effect social change."

Now that the word has been broken down, defined, and traced back there should be a clearer understanding of its meaning. I think it is interesting that in Latin liber means both book and free. They associated freedom with knowledge. It's obvious when you look at the words library and liberty that this connection was realized by the creators of the English language.

The more we understand the information we take in, the easier it is to separate truth from fiction. Literacy is slavery unless critical thinking is applied.

-Aahabb