If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life it’s this: Words have meaning! I remember my fifth-grade classroom with both horror (I was one of those kids that was ruthlessly made fun of, skinny, awkward, and uncoordinated) and wonder as I remember my teacher, Mrs Kneitz, holding “dictionary drills” where we were given a word and had to find out the meaning in the dictionary (a real one with pages and everything) as fast as we could. Whoever won the most rounds received a prize. I never won. Ever. One day after a contest I stayed behind and told Mrs Kneitz that I was frustrated because I couldn’t find the words as fast as everyone else. I will never forget her reply until my dying day, “Rob, you will get very fast at finding words in the dictionary, in fact, you will get faster than anyone in the class.” Did I get faster that year and finally win one of the contests? No. Haha. But my teacher’s statement left an impression on me and caused me to find a love for words.
That being said, if there’s one thing that gets me riled up more than almost anything else (verbally anyway) is when people use words out of context and/or words that they have absolutely no idea of their meaning. Whether accidental or on purpose to try and sound “lofty” and “intelligent”, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m instantly turned off. I’ve often said to anyone who will listen, “I’d rather someone just go with being dumb if they are, I’d have a lot more respect for them.” (Not dissing on so-called “dumb” people, just stating a fact that some of us have talents others don’t and vice versa, we shouldn’t try and “sound” smart about something if we aren’t).
I am certainly not claiming to be some wise sage or word sleuth who knows everything and always uses words correctly. In fact, I’m quite certain I make lots of errors with grammar, punctuation, verbs, adverbs, nouns and pronouns. I’ve never claimed to have grasped proper writing in its entirety and most likely never will. And that’s okay. Many of you who read my posts probably appreciate the fact that I write like most people talk. I try not to use a PHD level word in every sentence because that’s not who most of us are. There are some bloggers that I enjoy reading but, to be honest, I lose interest a lot of times because I have to think really hard about what they are saying because they do try to sound “uber intelligent” by using words most of us either have never heard of, or don’t use in our every day dealings with each other. It’s ridiculous if you ask me. Maybe a bunch of “intellectuals” sitting around speaking with one another use lofty words with 4 or 5 syllables, but most of the population doesn’t.
Kind of a long preface to what my subject is today. I’ll keep the body of my post as short as possible because, as always, I know we all have things to do. Reading takes time. And if someone drones on and on about something, interest is lost. That’s not my goal. My goal has always been to share my opinion about subjects and try my best to put it in a way that people get the gist of what I’m saying while also causing them to *think* about what I’m saying and come to their own conclusion.
Over the last few years we’ve heard this word “fascism” thrown around for pretty much *everything* going on in the world. We’ve all heard it over and over again. Trump, Biden, Gates, Schwab, DeSantis (and a list longer than my arm) are all fascists. In fact, anyone who disagrees with whatever narrative (on any “side” in an argument) are all labeled… you got it… fascists.
So what does fascism actually mean? From the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Addition, printed in 1994 (I try not to use online dictionaries because, as we all know, they change the meaning of words whenever a word doesn’t mean what it’s supposed to mean according to those pushing agendas on the world):
Fascism: A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
How many of us really knew the meaning of that word? I would wager that most of us have never looked it up and thought about it. If we consider the meaning of the word, I would say pretty much every so-called leader (especially over the last 20 years or so) is… well, a fascist! All of the names I mentioned above and dozens, if not hundreds, more just like them. Does that mean that they actually tow the fascist dogma line? Not necessarily.
To me, the meaning of the word is easily misused because I think we all have a little fascist in us judging by the definition. Many of us are patriotic and thus could be accused of “exalting nation”. Many in the population aren’t ashamed of their race (whether that’s black, brown, yellow, white, green or whatever) and could be accused of exalting race (just by being proud to be a certain race, *not* “racist” that’s a whole other word with a whole different meaning). Some of us feel like we need a “great leader” to save us from everything and could be accused of supporting a dictator. You see my point here. Fascism is definitely a word that could be thrown around quite easily and we could label almost everyone a fascist in one way or another.
But what about groups like “Antifa”? Oh man… talk about being exactly the opposite of being anti-fascist! Antifa doesn’t care one bit about the individual. In fact, they don’t want individuality at all. They want exactly the same thing they say they are against! It is mind boggling that people fall for this crap. I’m not an expert on Antifa (or fascism) and so am only speaking from a layman’s perspective but this group seems to promote every single tenet in the definition 100%. Think about it, they scream racism at every turn, want an evil government to control everything and use as much violence as possible to suppress anyone who opposes what they stand for. They literally live the definition of the very thing they say they are against. I’m only using “antifa” as an example, there’s loads of other groups that are doing the exact same thing. It’s shocking at the ignorance of people who are literally screaming “fascist” when they really don’t know the meaning of the word, or the philosophy of fascism itself. If they did, I wonder if it would change their stance? Probably not.
So, there’s my two cents. I know this is a bit different than other things I opine about, but it’s really been stuck in my craw for a long time now and I had to vent. Haha. We need to be careful with the words we use to describe others whether as an individual or a group. To me, it’s impossible to know who we are if we can’t define ourselves with words. If someone asks us to describe ourselves, our philosophy, or our belief system are we able to provide that questioner with a few words and really know what those words mean? When we throw around words like democrat, republican, Christian, libertarian, communist, fascist, globalist, anarchist, technocrat, and “progressive” (along with a huge list of other words), have we really taken the time to find out what those labels mean? Have we often used these words to describe our personal philosophy or belief system to others while being completely blind to the true meaning/implications of those words? I mean, if I look up every single word/label I listed above, I can almost find something in the definition of every single one of those words that I agree with 100%.
I guess this is why I stopped labeling myself years ago. I refuse to be labeled by others as well. When someone labels me (especially with a political term), I usually let them know that I hold no political philosophy except for that of free human beings able to believe whatever they want, be friends with whoever they want, be proud of their race (or ashamed, it’s their choice), can love huge government and centralized control (or not) and so on and so forth… as long as they leave me the heck alone to believe what I want to believe as well, and not expect me to join their herd. In today’s world, we are expected to be part of a herd and we *must* take on a word to describe ourselves or we aren’t a good herd member.
I think it’s time to stop needing a herd. It’s time we do the opposite of fascism and raise the *individual* over nation and race. This doesn’t mean we aren’t patriotic and that we don’t care about others or a group of “others” that we agree with. It means that we realize that when the rubber meets the road (in most cases), it’s the individual making choices for themselves that gets them out of whatever conundrum they find themselves in. That relying on a herd of fascists or any other group to save us is futile and destructive.
Define yourself today and be proud of the label you choose for yourself. But please, know the definition of the label you choose. Words have power and we are defined by the words we use. If we put a “bumper sticker word” on ourselves, we will be judged by that bumper sticker. Choose the right word and wear it well. Thanks for reading The Rumble Strip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRFfR3k1kA
About 16 and 1/2 minutes he talks about the WHO changing the meaning of words.
You're right Rob" Words do matter. Which is why the "Left" has been winning the battle for the minds and souls. We began to lose when we allowed "the Left" to control our language. We could replace "Left", (a term 200 years out of date), with "authoritarian" - more accurate perhaps, but still inadequate . The "authoritarians" control all discourse. And have since the 60's. If we can only discuss issues using their words, we can never actually deal with very real core problems. Because we're not allowed to mention them. Ever. The last few years have seen a movement from 'political correctness' to stark raving lunacy. We have so perverted our language that we are rapidly losing the ability to communicate.