An article by Nicole Belle in Crooks and Liars got me to thinking about the subject of this post. I’m writing about a side issue. The most important focus of Nicole’s post involves the racist, misogynistic remarks about the First Lady uttered by an Alabama public school teacher and coach. Click the link to C&L and check it out for yourself. My topic is how we know (or think we know) what words mean.
February 03, 2013 07:00 AMAL Teacher Rants About Michelle Obama’s ‘Big Butt’ and ‘Queers’
When the tea party gained prominence, my husband scoffed at my insistence that they were propelled by racism. But the more he saw of them, the harder it became for him to deny. All of the things that existed when George W. Bush was president suddenly became tyranny when an African American man occupied the White House. Ironically, I’ve come to re-evealuate that initial conclusion, thanks in no small part to my buddies Driftglass and Blue Gal and their weekly podcast. It would be far more accurate to say that these people are white supremists.
“Racist” vs. “white supremacist.” Do they mean different things? In I think their most recent podcast, Blue Gal asserts that they do. Roughly, she says that racists are those who hate persons of one or more races besides their own. White supremacists are those who think the Caucasian race is superior to all others. The problem is…
Essentially, “White supremacy” is defined as an example of the primary meaning of “racism”!
One night Chris Matthews said on his show Hard Ball that he didn’t like the word “race,” preferring “ethnicity” instead. (He didn’t say why.) The problem is…
Earlier, “race” referred to biology, “ethnicity” to culture. In this pair of definitions — same dictionary — “ethnicity” still refers to culture, and the primary meaning of “race” still refers to biology. But look at the secondary meaning. “Race” is defined as “ethnicity”!
As ten people you meet at random to explain the difference between uninterested and disinterested, insure and. ensure, creed and belief, flammable and inflammable.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
If you want to be understood, then don’t assume others understand a key term to mean the same thing you think it means. And don’t use a term in a way that’s unique to you and a restricted number of others. For example, Driftglass (referred to above) used the term “centrist” is what I think is a rather eccentric way. Here’s my dictionary and I think it means:
Driftglass uses it to mean believing (or at least saying) “both sides do it.” I do understand what me means when he uses the term, so it’s OK. But you can’t count on that in all cases. Remember Humpty-Dumpty?
