Why Is It?
What’s in a name? Everything, it would seem.
Words do have meaning. Consider some examples of the impact that emotionally charged ideas can have when associated with certain words or terms:
>Special interests: Why is it that “special interests” are groups we do not agree with, while those groups we support are like-minded people who have the right values? The tobacco industry is a special interest but the Sierra Club is not. The NRA is a special interest but Planned Parenthood is not. Big business is a special interest but organized labor is not.
>Agribusiness: Why is it that farmers are “agribusiness” (read corporate big business) when we want to influence public opinion, but they are just “farmers” when we buy their produce at an open-air market? Farmers are the “agribusiness” when they seek to limit government intrusion in their lives, but they are hard working members of society when they produce the food we eat. One man’s “farmer” is another man’s agribusiness “special interest.”
>Environmentalism: Why is it that “environmentalism” is good no matter how it affects people? Anyone who wants to curb the excesses of such laws as the Endangered Species Act is willing to destroy civilization in the pursuit of profit. Energy generated from fossil fuels and nuclear power is destroying the world and must be stopped at any cost but everyone drives or flies to the meetings to protest their use. Does anyone see any inconsistency or hypocrisy in that?
>Developers: Why is it that real estate “developers” are unconscionable profiteers who want to rape the land, but contractors are just the good folks who build our homes for us?
>Big Business: Why is it that the oil, pharmaceutical and auto industries, and business in general, are evil and steal and cheat for profit but everyone wants the highest paying jobs they offer and the benefits and way of life their products and services make possible?
>Profit: Why is it that the word “profit” is synonymous with greed but demands for higher pay and greater benefits or government largesse are just simple “economic democracy” or “fairness”? Profit is greed when it’s the other guy’s profit but justifiable earnings for hard work and sacrifice when it’s ours.
>Free speech: Why is it that “free speech” means I can say anything I want, but you can’t say anything I don’t like. My right to “free speech” is absolute, yours must be politically correct or you will be punished. It’s OK for college students to destroy thousands of copies of campus newspapers that contain a story they don’t like, but if anyone tries to prevent them from publishing a point of view they advocate, it’s constitutionally protected speech.
>Segregation: Why is it that “segregation” is against the law and must be prevented, but African-American students on many of our college campuses are deliberately segregating themselves?
>Racist: Why is it that discrimination against blacks is “racist” but discrimination against whites is not?
>Double jeopardy: Why is it that being tried a second time by the Federal government is not “double jeopardy” under the constitution but being tried twice by the state for the same crime is?
>Tax Loopholes: Why is it that tax “loopholes” are deductions someone else gets away with, but it’s not a loophole if we are able to claim the same deduction on our own tax returns? Why is a tax deduction that is written into the law a “loophole,” anyway? How has the meaning of the word “loophole” become perverted to mean any tax deduction we don’t like while the deductions we claim on our own tax returns are legitimate? Everyone claims tax deductions, from the simple “standard deduction” or “exemption” to itemized deductions and business expenses. So, why are many legal tax deductions now called “loopholes”? As far as I can tell, loopholes are really just the deductions we cannot claim ourselves but that someone else can.
>Extremist: Why is it that conservatives and Born Again Christians are right-wing “extremists,” but liberals are not left-wing “extremists”?
>God: Why is it that “God” cannot be mentioned in our schools but we can talk about the Communist Manifesto all we want?
>Gun control: Why is it that “gun control” is the answer to the excess of violence that has overtaken our society when there are already over 22,000 gun control laws on the books? Will removing guns from the hands of law abiding citizens cure the problem or do we need to change our “anything goes” mentality and cure the moral sickness that infects us?
Are we ever going to wise up to the way we are misled and manipulated by how politicians and the media use words? We are all members of special interest groups. Just different ones.
© 2007 Harris R. Sherline, All Rights Reserved
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