The Uncanny Reversal of Meaning
Freud long ago detailed how words often wrap around the continuum of meaning to express their opposite. While he used "heimlich" and its one time opposite "unheimlich," clear examples of the same phenomenon occur today.
Literally: A Case Study
Looking up "literally" in Merriam-Webster's dictionary returns two definitions in direct contradiction. The fist sense of "literally" is:
in a literal sense or manner: such as
a : in a way that uses the ordinary or primary meaning of a term or expression
He took the remarkliterally.
a word that can be used both literally and figuratively
b —used to emphasize the truth and accuracy of a statement or description
The party was attended by literallyhundreds of people.
c : with exact equivalence : with the meaning of each individual word given exactly
The term "Mardi Gras" literallymeans "Fat Tuesday" in French.
d : in a completely accurate way
a story that is basically true even if notliterally true
The second meaning of the word is the opposite:
in effect : virtually —used in an exaggerated way to emphasize a statement or description that is not literally true or possible
will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice
—Norman Cousins
Common use of the word "literally" often takes the second sense. It is, in fact, this common use which has created the second sense.
YOLO: A Second Case
Another example of this same phenomenon is the quickly shifting meaning of the phrase "You Only Live Once." Originally intended as a cry to embrace the fun in life, the phase quickly morphed into a single lexeme, "YOLO," but went on to mean it's opposite in some circles where YOLO is ironically said when someone makes a very poor decision.
"'YOLO,' he said, before jumping off the balcony."
Fake News
Just as with "literally" and "YOLO," there is an ongoing attempt to change the meaning of "fake." The current United States president insists that many news outlets with credible sources are "fake news." His repeated claims, erroneous as they are, have gained support among his followers--a not insubstantial community. This community threatens to destabilize the meaning of "fake."
More disturbing is the use of this same term by international, would-be despots in their own propaganda efforts.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com
While others have already recognized the use of this concept as a threat to freedom of speech, I am left wondering how we can most effectively combat the concept of "fake news."
Combating Linguistic Reversal
One effective way to fight the Trump et al.'s attempt to subvert the meaning of "fake" and destabilize the general ability of the public to even speak of something as "real" or "true" is to use what Freud taught us long ago about linguistics.
We must forcefully refuse the change to the meaning of "fake" and can do so by simply calling the attempt what it is: an effort to make a word turn in on itself and express its opposite. The next step is calling it it when we see it. Since the definition of a word is determined by the community of language speakers, it is up to all of us to refuse this attempt at change.
Otherwise we risk an Orwellian language in which we are prevented from even attempting to speak against a regime by the limited semantic range of the words we have been given. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in living in 1984.