One of the greatest comedians of my generation was the late George Carlin. And yes, I could quote his most famous routine, the “Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say on Television,” but that’s not where I’m going here.
Carlin had a comedy routine where he demonstrated how language can increase or decrease the impact of a situation. He explained this by comparing the “shell shock” soldiers in World War I underwent, to the “battle fatigue” of those who fought in World War II, to “post-traumatic stress disorder” from the Vietnam War. Although all three nomenclatures described the same event, the impact seems less potent from one war to the next.
And that’s what we have with the current Presidential election. We have people using language to circumvent what they really want to say, and hoping that by using different utterances instead of words that automatically signal repulsiveness, they can get their racism and xenophobia and misogyny past everyone.
Take, for example, “voter fraud.” The term conjures up images of people tampering with voting machines and using computer software to crack into databases, with dark-cloaked nefarios smuggling out briefcases full of votes for one candidate. That’s what you’re LED to believe.
In reality, what “voter fraud” really is is this. If two people vote for different candidates, then their votes cancel each other out. But “voter fraud” is really a minced oath for “I need my vote to count and for your vote to NOT count. Because if you vote against me, then you cancel out my vote. I need to make sure my vote counts more than does your vote.”
See how clear that is when you get past the balderdash? And these racists will denigrate your vote by using everything from the poll tax to the grandfather cause, from intelligence tests to minute registration inconsistencies. And don’t even get me started on the brown bag rule. Those who know, clearly know.
I kinda went down this language path three years ago when I blogged that people were going nuts over “CRT” as a euphemism for “critical race theory,” with these proselytizers not truly grasping the college-level concept of critical race theory and instead boiling it down to a three-letter abbreviation that couches their inherent racism.
Same thing with using DEI as a slur against any minority in a position of power. “Oh, he didn’t earn that position,” they grumble, “he’s a DEI hire. He took the place of an able-bodied white man because of political correctness and woke-ism.”
Horse shit. This is again another couched roundabout way to use racial epithets without a six-letter word that starts with N and rhymes with trigger. Think about who’s getting tagged with “DEI” taunts. Think about WHY these people are getting slammed like this. Yep. Now you know.
Oh yeah, and there’s that term “woke.” Today, “woke” is the equivalent of what was once called “political correctness,” the idea that you don’t believe in a concept, but you’re willing to go with it only because it has more popularity or more clout. You really want to know what “woke” means? Where “woke” came from?
“Woke” came from parents of color who told their sons and daughters to always be alert for racism and bigotry and hatred and vulgarity. To understand that your life can change in an instant because some knuckle-dragger with a badge or with a gun or with a gavel can destroy your life in an instant for reasons as minute as reckless eyeballing. Stay woke. Stay alert.
That’s what “woke” means. But yeah, to hear racists and clowns use it today means that they’re the “woke” people that parents warned you about.
In other words, it’s easier to shout “woke” and “DEI” and “CRT” and “voter fraud” and those who hear will automatically formulate their own detailed offensives. It happens.
But if you know what the words really mean … what they’re trying to say past the initials that could instead stand for cathode ray tubes, or Dale Earnhardt International, or a country music FM station in Fort Myers, Florida … is clear. It’s racism without using the word racism while still maintaining the concept of racism.
That’s how you can tell what’s happening today.
And how you can see past the horse shit to see who truly are the horses’ asses.
Chuck The Writer 
George Carlin was an absolute master.
LikeLike
Of course, the people that really, really need this are the ones who won’t read it (i.e. MAGA morons).
LikeLike
In fact George Carlin reminds me a lot of Trump.
Many people dismissed Carlin’s work simply because of his often offensive delivery. Consequently, they missed out on his insightful messages and observations, which have survived the test of time.
LikeLike