The war of words has everyone in denial

According to Wikipedia (so take it for what that’s worth), the first dictionary was written around 2300 BC. China published its first in 3 B.C. In 1604, the first English dictionary with words listed alphabetically was brought into the world.

I do not mention this because I want to prepare you for team trivia night at your local bar. Rather, I intend to illustrate how old the concept is of words having specific, documented meanings. That way, I can point out how that very concept is being decimated today — sacrificed on the altar diversity, equity, inclusion, politics, virtue signaling and everything else that makes so many of our fellow Americans insufferable.

Words have always evolved over time, or come in and out of style. But that’s not what we’re dealing with here. What we’re living through is a forced changing of the meaning of words based on the political whims of the moment.

“Man” and “woman” are now words with “fluid” meanings, up for grabs; former absolutes now malleable and left to the eye of the beholder.

What was obvious just a couple of years ago became a matter for debate — not because anything changed, but because a small group of people insisted everyone else must. How this occurred will be studied by anthropologists for centuries to come.

We, the living, have to deal with the crazy in real time. It’s the difference between reading Hemingway write about bullfighting and realizing the folly of wearing your red suit after you’ve fallen into ring at Las Ventas, in Madrid.

This language dysphoria appears to be situational, or fluid, rendering it all the more confusing. For example, when it comes to sports and bathroom usage, every Democrat appears to forget his entire life experience and become confused and unable to define what a woman is. When it comes to their own personal dating habits, the abortion issue or “historic” firsts by women, they suddenly all become gynecologists. It’s enough to make you doubt their sincerity.

The word “Nazi” is another one progressives have stripped of all meaning. It now applies to anyone who disagrees with them. They’ve taken to accusing people who live by a credo of individual freedom and responsibility of being collectivist totalitarians. War has become peace.

But it’s not just the political left having difficulty with the definitions of words these days. There is a political mirror image of this problem on the right that doesn’t have anything to do with denial of biology or resurrecting late and unlamented European ideologies.

It’s nearly impossible today to watch conservatives on television or to read their columns without seeing bastardizations of the words “elite” and “establishment.” These words have meanings and have been used in politics for generations. But the people using them now hope you don’t think about that, or how they’re being misused now. They just hope you take the word to be a pejorative term.

But here’s something to remember: Anyone paid to give opinions or interview office holders is, by that very fact, part of the “elite.” The same applies to anyone who holds office or appears regularly on television, radio or in print.

Do you do any of those things? Do you make millions hosting a prime-time television show on a cable news network? Probably not. If you did, you’d be a part of the “establishment.”

Were you once president of the United States? Same thing. And you are also a “politician” to boot, by the very definition of the word. That’s how words work, or are supposed to.

Words have always been weaponized in politics. In the 1988 election, Republicans beat Democrats into submission with the word “liberal.” The beating was so intense that the left abandoned the word for “progressive,” which has a horrible, racist history. “Lobbyist” has come to mean “Someone who advocates for an issue with which I disagree,” whereas an “activist” or “advocate” is someone who does the same on issues I like.

The whole thing is a mess, and it’s only going to get worse. When politicians and activists do not benefit from reality, they simply deny it and bully everyone into using language that brings a fake reality into existence.

They aren’t exactly known for letting the facts stand in the way of a good story.

Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).