We’re all worried about the state of our country, but the ability to discuss our problems in a reasonable and productive manner is eluding us. Part of this disability comes from the fact that (and I’m borrowing from Thomas Sowell here) half of us see life as being “constricted” (his word) by reality and the other half sees the world, sees reality, as malleable, or “unconstructed,” in spite of the pesky failures of their wishful thinking. The fact of the matter is that if we head off in diametrically opposed directions, we’re unlikely to end up next door to each other.

However, if we could talk objectively about our differences, we might, given fair winds and following seas, arrive at livable compromises. But we can’t do that without words, and too many of our most polemic words have turned to glass -- fragile, unsubstantial, hard, and cold. Some are words that were created for the purpose of deception and manipulation, others are words that have morphed into their useless state through overuse, or a subtle twisting that renders them empty over time. Since the words in question are the key words in our current miasma, this is a big problem.

Language is a contract we live by. We all agree on what words mean, and yes, we do invent new words -- thousands of them; we need to because we keep inventing new things. Yes, we steal words from other languages and mispronounce them until they feel like home. We shift words from one part of speech to another -- “party” used to be a noun but now can be a verb likely involving illegal substances. Language always changes.

But sometimes it turns on us and this is one of those times. Our wonderful language has fallen into evil hands -- hands that intend to divide and conquer, to confuse and disable, to conquer and control.

Let’s take the Left’s tactic and do a bit of dividing and conquering ourselves. Let’s organize these vampire words.

Start with words as weapons. These words are used to humiliate, to ridicule, to accuse. Words like racist, bigot, terrorist. Terrorist, which used to refer to a person willing to blow up buildings to promote a questionable ideology, now refers to parents who verbally object to the sexual grooming of their children. Racist wasn’t even in the English language until the early 1900s and even then, did not carry the negative connotation the word wields today. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the term began to sharpen into the glass shard it is today. Today racist has been turned inside out. Instead of meaning anti-black, it now means anti-white. Another ist that’s doing a backflip is Marxist. Previously negative in the extreme, it is now a badge of collegiate honor. It’s now useless to call someone a Marxist, since the Marxist would only take it as a complement. Closely connected to the ists are the isms. Capitalism, activism, nationalism -- spoken with a sneer, as if these terms are deadly diseases.

Other words used to stab people in the back are the phobia words, all of them very recent inventions. It’s interesting that an ancient Greek term used to denote an unreasonable fear of something (like peanut butter -- arachibutyrophobia), should be slashed around with such ferocity and with so little evidence. Words like homophobia (as if fear was the source of the moral concern that many have about the gay lifestyle) or transphobia, or xenophobia have only one duty as words -– to cut, to disable, to show disdain.

Other words are relegated to mirror status. They have no real substance of their own -- they just reflect whatever fairytale is fashionable. For instance -- diversity, which no longer has anything to do with variations or differences, is now used to confuse since those most enamored with the word are the most intense about sticking close with their own kind. Diversity is relegated to skin color, inventive sexual behaviors, and ethnic connections; it is undesirable if dealing with politics or religion. Or choice, which used to mean selection, but now is a code word for killing babies. Privilege is another word that is muddled. Those who bandy about words like white privilege (the very worst kind) are trying to disinherit those who enjoy the same apparent ease that the leftists either envy or enjoy themselves. One wonders what they see in the mirror.

Some words are used to create a brotherhood of victims. Words like oppression. This word isn’t used to refer to 19^th-century slavery, but to the mere expression of a disparate point of view. Phrases like safe spaces create a sense of danger from differing ideas -- if we need safe spaces, there must be something scary out there -- someone might have the audacity to disagree with a poor beleaguered student. Recent neologisms like intersectionality appear to refer to the list of oppressed groups one can lay claim to, useful only if one wants to promote the idea of victimhood.

Some glass words are obvious hideaways -- smokey glass -- like equity, an obvious offshoot from equality, but with a sinister meaning. Equality, as found in our founding documents, refers to the goal of equal opportunity. Equity wants more -- it wants a guarantee of equal outcome. Preference is even sneakier. Everyone wants his preferences known and adhered to. I, for instance, prefer chocolate. However, can a person honestly claim that his/her homosexuality is inborn, and at the same time refer to it as a preference? Another such term is social justice. The truth is that justice is justice -- it can’t be improved upon, and justice is, by its very nature, social. Adding the word can only distort the idea of absolute fairness. It’s another smokescreen. These languageistas are up to something sneaky.

Then there are the Frankenstein monster words that have been cobbled together to preclude actual conversation and mutual respect. I think of cisgender -- a derogatory term that refers to normal sexual attraction, but it sounds like something deviant and shameful. I am especially offended by the term minor-attracted person, which is deviant, but is pretending not to be.

God gave us language for the purpose of communication, communication of truth. (Interesting sidenote: all languages are structured the same way -- all have noun phrases and verb phrases, all use either word order or inflections, all use meaning words and function words. The brain is just hard-wired for language.) When we use this amazing gift to deceive, to attack, to confuse we break the contract for which it was made. Most of what is broken can be fixed, so let us hope this can be, too. If we can’t, reality is about to constrict us in ways we’re not willing to tolerate. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face… 1Corinthians 12:13a

Deana Chadwell is an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College https://pacificbible.edu in southern Oregon. She teaches writing, logic, and literature. She can be contacted at 1window45@gmail.com.

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