Why do we use words? To convey meaning to our thoughts so they can be shared.
Why dilute words? To potentially make extreme the little things, which will then in turn, make extreme things little.
Are tea partiers “terrorists”, “jihadists”, “hostage takers”? No they are not. They are a group of people that stood as firmly as they could on the shifting soil that is government decisions and bipartisan agreements.
They didn’t even hold up as a block to go ahead an let us default knowing that the cuts agreed to were somewhat not huge. How on earth does that make them terrorists?
I went to Protein Wisdom who is fantastic with vocabulary questions and found this story about farm equipment.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a component of the Department of Transportation, has proposed implementing new standards that require farmers and all those who work on a farm to obtain a license to operate farming machinery. To do this, the agency will be reclassifying all farm vehicles and equipment as Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs).
By “calling” farm equipment CMVs farmers will now have to deal with further regulation. Not big farms, mind you….they don’t use family members to drive tractors, nor do they have trouble buying licenses for everyone, no this will only hit the small family farms that everyone seems to “want to save”.
See, it’s the vocabulary.
I’m curious what we will now call someone who blows up civilians in order to cause terror and maybe get their way? If tea partiers who, you know, vote like their job requires are terrorists, then “someone who blows up civilians in order to cause terror and maybe get their way” MUST be something else.
Another example from today’s news… if milk producers who sell raw milk to people who want raw milk are “criminals”, what exactly do we call a person who steals other people’s money who do not want their money stolen?
I mentioned the CMV designation to the NFIB today — they just announced a new coalition — Small Business for Sensible Regs. They hadn’t heard of it but know their members will go crazy — especially and in addition to their worries about the pending Farm Dust rules….DENVER (March 14, 2011)—U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday after a talk in Denver that U.S. farmers shouldn’t be too concerned yet about stricter federal regulations on farm dust.
Vilsack pointed out that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t come out with new standards for dust, soot and other particles.
Farms frequently produce dust clouds during harvests, and farmers are waiting nervously to hear whether the EPA plans to clamp down on dust and dirt.
The American Lung Association has called for tougher controls.