Words are key building blocks in every language. Our words are the basis of our communications with others, and with ourselves. Our thoughts determine the words that connect us with everything outside. Have you ever said something and then immediately asked yourself, “Did I say that or think that?” Not everything we think should be said, right?
Because words can be weapons. They can be used as camouflage to hide the things we are doing. This is called projection.
The best understanding of our own words and thoughts, or those of others, is gained by watching the actions that follow (or precede). We should be careful observers of actions. Sometimes actions don’t match the words and/or thoughts. There can be good reasons, and bad reasons. Either way, actions are always meaningful.
Here’s a partial list of words from the Voting Alert Beacons glossary to which the above comments apply:
Alt Right extremist: The alt right (short for “alternative right”) is a segment of the white supremacist movement consisting of a loose network of racists and anti-Semites who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of politics that embrace implicit or explicit racism, anti-Semitism and white supremacy.
Authoritarian: Favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom.
Bigot: A person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.
Compassion: Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.
Cult ideology: In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices, although this is often unclear.
Fascism: A form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
Groupthink: The practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility.
Gay: (of a person) homosexual (used especially of a man).
Heteronormativity: The belief that heterosexuality, predicated on the gender binary, is the norm or default sexual orientation. It assumes that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.
Homophobic: Having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.
Illegal immigrants: Illegal immigration refers to the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country, or the continued residence of people without the legal right to live in that country.
Immigrants: A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
Islamophobic: Having or showing a hatred or fear of Muslims or of their politics or culture.
LGBTQ: LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which was used to replace the term gay in reference to the LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Mansplaining: The explanation of something by a man, typically to a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.
Misogynistic: Strongly prejudiced against women.
Nazi: A person with extreme racist or authoritarian views.
Privilege: A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.
Queer: An umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual.
Racism: Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
Tyrannical: Exercising power in a cruel or arbitrary way. Characteristic of tyranny; oppressive and controlling.
Victum: One who is harmed or killed by another, especially by someone committing a criminal or unlawful act: a victim of a mugging.
White Supremacist: A white person who has the racist belief that white people are superior to people of other races and therefore should be dominant over them.
Xenophobic: Having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.
In addition to watching who uses these words and how they use them, let us also remember as we all respectfully use our 1st Amendment Right of Free Speech, that with the right comes the responsibility to listen. Even more, listening must mean we are willing to change. We must be willing to let the other person, or the other argument, or the other viewpoint change us. To think otherwise is not to listen.
If we all come with a commitment to listen, we will indeed meet in “the middle of the road,” and we will build an incredibly strong COMMON SENSE FOR AMERICA.
Words should not be weapons. They should be the way forward!
. . . remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her. America’s best days are ahead of her. They always have been and always will be.
Dave
Copyright © [2020] by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.
Here’s a beginning list of questions we might ask: