Transcending Babel
Mark Greathouse
(9/2022) Even before becoming a writer of western fiction, I found myself fascinated by the lingo of America’s west. Cattle are beeves, a porch is a gallery, a poke is a cowboy’s possibles bag, pilgrim is a tenderfoot or newcomer…you catch the drift. The old west had a sort of picturesque lingo, including humdingers like "snollygoster," an extreme promise toward gaining political support.
Today’s language twisting transcends that of the biblical Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), the story wherein God frustrates folks building a tower to Heaven by giving each individual a different language. Unable to communicate, they fail to complete the tower. Why should we be concerned? We seem to have an American Babel, as folks have lost the ability to verbally navigate their inner worlds. They’re unable to navigate any reality that’s the least bit uncomfortable. The consequence is avoidance, pushing away, or lashing out. The trend to language obfuscation exacerbates this and results in iron-fisted control by its extremist agenda-driven creators. Dystopian author George Orwell understood how societies are controlled by controlling language. Recall his 1984 quote, "War is peace! Freedom is slavery! Ignorance is strength!" Our language is being "weaponized" against us today such that if you don’t accept the latest twisted "Newspeak"
manifestations, you’re "cancelled."
Babel? Well, the leftists in our midst are trying to build a nation radically different from the one founded 250 years ago. That’s one heck of a "tower" they’ve got in mind. They specialize in using obfuscatory words to mask truths. The lexicon bending list is long, but I hope to throw some humor in with the horror of its contribution to our increasingly dystopian culture. Words have become masks for hidden agendas with intent to misinform the uninformed.
Let’s begin with "climate change" substituting for "global warming." Seems pretty safe, as the climate is constantly changing. And, if you care to believe NASA, changes occurring to planetary weather patterns are completely natural and normal and mankind has an infinitesimal impact on changing climates. Careful, such thinking can get you cancelled!
A prime example of word wrangling is "pro-choice" versus "pro-life." Both mask deep emotions. Of course, the underlying more accurate language is "pro-abortion" versus "anti-abortion." Guess some folks decided that mentioning the "a-word" was not a great public relations move. More often today, it’s further masked with "protecting women’s reproductive health."
"Woke" slays me. These supposedly "woke" holier-than-though, slogan-prolific, elitist, cancel-culture snobs must have slept through lectures on U.S. history. Maybe that’s because U.S. history is barely taught. Good grief, but our government-run education system is already a veritable plethora of lexicon corruption. "Social studies" became the socio-political catchall replacement for history decades ago, as lessons of the past faded into an afterthought. "Woke" is more akin to "intellectually comatose."
"Progressive" is an unbelievably inaccurate descriptor of the cultural left. Merriam-Webster defines progressive as of or relating to or characterized by progress, the making use of new ideas, findings, or opportunities. Not a very apt name for a movement mired in the political detritus of the 19th century. Notably, the original political Progressives were a splinter group of the Republican Party. You can laugh. Today, progressives are Democrats adept at dredging up and recasting the tired old failed socialist programs of the past, giving them new names, and pronouncing them as grand solutions to the world’s problems…many of which they created.
The National Education Association, that top contributor to the Democratic Party, proposes replacing "mother" with "birthing parent." Birthing parent? Madre de Dios! I expect we’re waiting with baited breath for our Catholic brethren to refer to the "Virgin Birthing Parent."
One of the most egregious and ignorant lexicon corruptions is "assault rifle." It’s crisis mongering to the extreme. In the first place, the "AR" in AR-15 translates to "Armalite Rifle." An assault rifle is a fully-automatic weapon used in battle, not hunting game or defending one’s home. The misnomer aimed at inciting emotions of fear and horror is downright wrong.
Gender classifies folks as "male" or "female" on the basis of reproductive organs and functions. It’s about procreation. Gender dysphoria, however, has become commonplace with simple "he" or "she" having been tossed into a confusing mix of "they," "it," "them," and a cornucopia of contrived appellations. Shucks, even Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson couldn’t define "woman."
How about "fake news?" It’s misinformation or disinformation aimed at misleading or persuading the uninformed. Figure most folks regardless of politics can agree on that one.
"Teach" versus "educate" is a scary form of Babel that has insidiously crept into our government-run education system. The words aren’t interchangeable. To parents and many scholars, educate implies the use of reason involving multiple perspectives on a subject. Teach, on the other hand, entails memorization of facts fed into malleable young brains to pass tests. It was reported that teachers in Frederick County, Maryland spent more than 40 percent of classroom time spewing facts to be memorized, so students could pass standardized tests.
"Social justice" issues frame most liberal agendas. "Diversity" has been tossed about as so much flotsam for several decades, despite hypocritical leftist initiatives that serve to divide us over racial and gender lines. "Equity" is anything judged just and fair and "equality" is a condition of being equal as in equal opportunity, yet liberals consider them interchangeable. They aren’t.
"Democratic socialist" is a killer oxymoron mask that’s been adopted by the far left. There’s nothing democratic about socialism. It ranks with "National Socialism" (aka Nazism).
"Values" (yours, mine, or theirs?) have been grossly corrupted by leftists as a replacement for "virtues." The virtuous moral underpinnings of values – such as they were – have been destroyed by removing all vestiges of the religious faith upon which they were based.
Liberals apply "racism" to anything associated with white folks. Whites are a bunch of "white supremacists." Labels like 1619 project, critical race theory, and BLM ring every bit as hollow as the cultural-Marxist ideology they’re all based upon. Shucks, an entire "racism" industry has been created.
How about "American exceptionalism?" Dare we strive to be exceptional among "civilized" nations of the world? What is it then that draws so many folks from foreign lands to America? Could they be thinking the United States is exceptional?
Today’s language transcends Babel. Words too often label, obfuscate, and injure with damaging effect. Too many Americans today avoid reasoned debate so as not to offend anyone, ban supposedly offensive classic books, block or censor social media posts, and stress out at anything that makes sensitive minds feel the least bit out of sorts. Language suffers, especially as liberals strive to be relevant by contriving new lexicon battlegrounds.
Language corruption for political ends is nothing new. Roughly 150 years ago, you might have heard "grayback" meaning lice or Rebels, "popular sovereignty" indicating states could choose slavery or not, or "red herring" equivalent to today’s fake news. Folks today are so acclimated to Babel that they’re expected to believe outright sleight-of-tongue snollygosters like the "Inflation Reduction Act" (it doesn’t) or "Affordable Care Act" (it’s not) or "Build Back Better Act" (it won’t). Language corruption seems here to stay, but we need to recognize it for what it is. Just sayin.
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