A recent post by “The Realist” got me to thinking. We are all aware of politically correct speech, but are we aware of the subtle change in our language? These changes appear to be heading us towards the false utopia of the left.

Take for example the word judgment. “Judge not lest you be judged.” So we should assume that it is wrong to judge others? Not at all; if you don’t judge the actions of others, who will? Western law is based upon the mores of Western civilization. This means it is based upon the actions that we, as a whole, judge to be unacceptable. Is it wrong to judge the actions of a child molester as wrong? Of course not, but why can we judge a molester but not a thief? The age old argument from the left is that who are we to say that our views are superior to others? We are. These views have been developed over centuries of trying to live in close proximity to each other and as a whole, Western civilization has done the best job of coexisting. We may not be perfect, but we do a better job than say, China or the Middle East. So is it acceptable to judge another’s actions? Of course but as the Bible warns, if you judge another’s actions to be wanting, be prepared for your actions to be held to the same standards.

So now let’s look at the word discriminate. We all know that discrimination is a bad thing, right? Funny though, Merriam-Webster says that discrimination means to differentiate or distinguish. It is only in the second part of the second definition that M-W states that discrimination means “to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit.” Of course this could also mean discrimination for something such as we all discriminate for our friends; after all they are our friends. So why is it that when most Americans hear the word discriminate they automatically think it a negative word? Is it not a good thing to have a discriminating palate? The media has beaten us all over the head with the term in a negative light for so long that the word has changed meaning to the majority of Americans. This way one more word is removed from the available lexicon and speech is incrementally restricted once again.

Here are several words and phrases that we either are no longer supposed to use or must be very careful how they are used.

Judgmental                               To judge

Discrimination                           To distinguish

Black                                       Absorbs all light

Colored                                    Has color (not white)

Oriental                                    A race of Humans (Asian is an ethnicity)

Mexican                                   Citizens of Mexico

“Those people”             As opposed to these people

Terrorist                                   Unless you are talking about a Republican

Niggardly                                 Stingy

                                                (Which is hundreds of years older than the racial slur)

The other part of all of this that bothers me is the level of stupidity that it has reached. If I so much as write one of the “unacceptable” words that are truly insults, even if I am quoting someone, my blog would disappear overnight. I do swear but don’t believe in using racial slurs. I do, however, believe in everyone’s right to use them. Just as I believe in the insulted party’s right to pop the offender in the nose for being racist. What can I say, I’m old fashioned.