Lamenting the problem of ‘lingustic debasement’

Robert Weissberg writes for the American Thinker about structural damage to the English language.

Both the dollar and the English language are mediums of exchange, and just as a dollar bill can become worthless, words can deteriorate into gobbledygook. Unfortunately, with no Secret Service to prevent linguistic debasement, American politics seems to be undergoing an epidemic-like linguistic inflation akin to the German currency inflation of 1923 when the mark became virtually valueless. It is not that English is adding new words or that old words evolve; rather, innumerable words are losing their original meaning, a situation akin to a currency becoming valueless.

Such “linguistic inflation” is particularly evident in the victimhood vocabulary where terms are stretched into meaninglessness for political gain. “Racism” is undoubtedly the most extreme example, and almost anything can now be deemed “racist.” Like gravity, racism is everywhere and like gravity, its impact is, allegedly, undeniable. Indeed, inventing new forms of racism has become a thriving industry and its inventors often claim “racism” can be nearly invisible (“implicit racial bias”) and atmospheric in its impact — “systemic racism” and “structural racism.”

A similarly linguistic debasement afflicts “hate.” What was once just a strong aversion, dislike or loathing has been transformed into mere disagreement. Now, objection to same-sex marriage has been redefined as hating homosexuals, so opposition to a court-mandated public policy makes one “homophobic.” Ditto for disagreeing with those endorsing surgery to alter a person’s biological sex or allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports — all, allegedly, “transphobic.” Significantly, appending “phobic” to this newly expanded hate definition conveys an element of mental illness implying that the cure for hate in not reasoned rejoinders but mental counseling.

Then there’s stretching “oppression” to include nearly everything that a thin-skinned person might find objectionable. Now, for example, a youngster struggling in a tough college might consider himself “oppressed,” and since this “oppression” is inescapable, only “liberation” is the solution to the stifling oppression.

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