Saturday, January 20, 2018

Code words and equivalents



 In this 21st century certain words are now dog whistles that symbolize codes.

  According to Wikipedia, “acronyms and abbreviations can be considered codes, and in a sense all languages and writing systems are codes for human thought.”
   For instance, the words third world countries was originally coined during the cold war to signify those nations that were aligned with the Soviet Union.
   After the end of the cold war, the neologism of third world countries was used to signify nations that had not advanced economically and whose people were perpetually unable to get enough food to sustain them, thus needing aid from prosperous Western nation countries.
   The meaning of the word euphemism is according to Oxford Dictionaries a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
   The third world countries  were often privately referred to with the euphemism or neologism to connote hell hole countries.
   Most recently in 2018 POTUS 45, according to Senator Dick Durbin used the euphemism that connotes shit hole, but POTUS 45 claims he used the neologism that connotes ass hole.
   All of the above caused a world wide furor.
   Every major media source world wide feigned the euphemism that connotes shit hole with the word racist.
   A racist is a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others, however a racist is also a bigot which connotes a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own.
   All of the above fits the definition of dog whistle politics.
   Figuratively, a dog whistle is a coded message communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a particular group of people, but not by others.

Our country is divided by the 2 political parties unable to govern because a variety of all of the above code words are used to tar and feather.  

 
 

Friday, January 5, 2018

Words gone south : oenophile and multihyphenate



   I wonder if the global world has seen the end of what used to be know as civilized living.
   We were once a society producing great thinkers who were also bon vivants dedicated to enjoying the world of pleasures afforded to those living well.
   In the 20th century there were individuals who were regularly described as oenophile and multihyphenate.
  And others who strived to enter that privileged class were encouraged to sharpen their intellect and associate themselves with the trappings of living well, they sought to be conjoined into a mutually rewarding association.
   All of the currently associated with an oenophile and multihyphenate reputation are now either of a certain age or have already been celebrated within the obits of The New York Times in 2017,  but for yet another year since Jeff Bezos bought the Washington D. C. based newspaper, leading left leaning political thinkers and shakers who have perished in our time are more prominently featured in The Washington Post.
   Therein lies the cavernous separation of a different emphasis that leaves the oehophile and multihyphenate to the wayside in this new era of emphasis on chosen moralities and left of center political affiliations versus those with any other bent.

   I must admit that I miss the celebration of living well and collecting fine wines as a way of lifting out of the morass of daily life where survival is paramount in a world that is just ordinary instead of extraordinary.
   It occurs to me that the major print media now emphasizes stories about the ordinary person who is suffering under the yoke of those who have accumulated wealth who are not supporting a life where “musts” are set forth as government mandated.

   What is missing in the unexceptional start of this 21st century is the magic of possibilities that exists in all of us to be a multihyphenate living well in the manner of the oenophile, but perhaps 2018 will herald a change back to living in a world where appreciation of the finer things in life is something to strive for.