"Epic" "awesome" "revolutionary" "never before seen" "once in a lifetime"

Everything is hyperbole, to the point where "epic"--something that should describe the most important events of human history--is reduced to pressing buttons well in a videogame made for children

Not to say the Protestant core of the USA hasn't had something to do with it (it's the END TIMES, you're going to burn in hell FOREVER, God's love is INFINITE, etc.) but it seems like mostly a market construction

Comical how liberals do the whole "newspeak is coming" don't realize it has; don't need to ban words if you make them completely meaningless

"Freedom" means nothing, "revolution" means nothing, "just" means nothing, "socialism" means nothing, "democracy" means nothing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuperation_(politics)

  • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I don't think it's meaningfully possible to "damage" a living, thriving language and it always strikes me as a very reactionary thing to worry about. Like white genocide or something. Like, no, the English language is going to be fine, I assure you lol

    I have no trouble communicating scale or intensity to people I'm conversing with.

    • Reversi [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Like, no, the English language is going to be fine, I assure you lol

      It exists, sure. But between McCarthy rendering all left-sounding words politically untenable and right-wing think tanks warping "welfare" and "equality" and "working class" into what they want it to mean, let's not pretend we can just go with a flow and be all like "eh it's fine, I'll use another word" when there are only so many words to use

      • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        when there are only so many words to use

        This is just incorrect, though. There aren't "only so many words to use." You act like words are some kind of precious resource handed down to us by God with a finite supply. That just isn't how it works.

        • Reversi [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Okay, try to explain socialism to a modern USA citizen without using the words "workers," "labor," "means of production," "market," "class," "ownership," "property," or any variation of them.

          Try to explain someone being transgender (to a modern USA citizen) without using the words "gender," "sex," "man" or "woman," or any variation of them.

          You act like words are some kind of precious resource handed down to us by God with a finite supply. That just isn’t how it works.

          I decided to vaklfyruz my jukluutra during the ertratusi, but the fulskr happened to yoll the njaruhu instead.

          What? You didn't follow?

          Words, like culture, have inertia and momentum, it takes time for people--especially large populations--to grasp them, and new words can very easily have their definitions shifted (see: the usage of 'woke')

          • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Okay, try to explain socialism to a modern USA citizen without using the words “workers,” “labor,” “means of production,” “market,” “class,” “ownership,” “property,” or any variation of them.

            The things you create and the tools by which you create them should be yours. Easy. Plain English. I swear some people here are so deep in jargon that they don't actually understand the meanings of their own phrases.

            • Reversi [none/use name]
              ·
              3 years ago

              The things you create and the tools by which you create them should be yours.

              Did I trip and fall into a life coach seminar

        • Runcible [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          not disagreeing, but this reminds me of the cyberbullying tweet. like, hahahahahahaha how the fuck is running out of words real hahahahah just makes sounds

      • garbage [none/use name,he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        english is a fucked up language. it's completely adapted and evolved as time goes by. the more time goes by, the less colonialist white people have to do with it. this entire original post is reactionary as fuck (probably unintentionally, but still.)

        • Reversi [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          the more time goes by, the less colonialist white people have to do with it.

          The colonialist white person never went away, they just became members of the World Bank and IMF and State Department and military-industrial complex as a whole

          What the fuck was Afghanistan if not a bungled colonialist project? White colonialist thinking bleeds through every single western analysis of China: "oh, if only we could show them the light of western values and DemocracyTM"

          this entire original post is reactionary as fuck

          "The bourgeoisie and servants of capital will manipulate language via ideology, and the capitalist class will dissect and debase language in order to make profits" is reactionary? Alright, sure. Point is that the way language is currently shifting is fucked up, not that languages should never change ever