Really?
Words lose their meaning...
15/12/16 22:40 Filed in: Life
Racist? Nazi? Really?
There is a time and a place for these sorts of words. Certainly there is and hopefully we never forget the history they come from and in isolated cases where they actually are still sadly relevant but in the last year..? I don’t know. It’s like that stat that 90% of all photos ever taken were taken in the last five minutes or whatever it is. I think it was actually the last year being equal to everything before that, about five years ago so now it’s probably far less of a spectacular contrast in the stat. If you did the same analysis for words like this we’d probably find that Trump not Hitler was the biggest Nazi and people who voted to leave the EU were the biggest racists the world has ever seen too. It never ceases to amaze me not only how easily these abhorrent terms are wheeled out but how acceptable they seem to be in society. I think the problem is on both sides, possibly more so on the recipient’s side where they seem to take such accusations in their stride without the disgust they should invoke.
We do live in an age of hyperbole without any doubt but these terms should still retain their power and its to all our shame if we allow them to lose the power their use should unleash. They represent and recall some of the worst episodes in human history. By all means disagree, be angry, argue but don’t throw these insults out there as you would any other. Especially in an age when snowflakes seem to take offense from the smallest, most innocent misjudgment of someones relationship, sex or preference for one lifestyle or another. Mistaking someone for a racist or a Nazi is unforgivable and the shame is in fact very upon you rather than them.
There is a time and a place for these sorts of words. Certainly there is and hopefully we never forget the history they come from and in isolated cases where they actually are still sadly relevant but in the last year..? I don’t know. It’s like that stat that 90% of all photos ever taken were taken in the last five minutes or whatever it is. I think it was actually the last year being equal to everything before that, about five years ago so now it’s probably far less of a spectacular contrast in the stat. If you did the same analysis for words like this we’d probably find that Trump not Hitler was the biggest Nazi and people who voted to leave the EU were the biggest racists the world has ever seen too. It never ceases to amaze me not only how easily these abhorrent terms are wheeled out but how acceptable they seem to be in society. I think the problem is on both sides, possibly more so on the recipient’s side where they seem to take such accusations in their stride without the disgust they should invoke.
We do live in an age of hyperbole without any doubt but these terms should still retain their power and its to all our shame if we allow them to lose the power their use should unleash. They represent and recall some of the worst episodes in human history. By all means disagree, be angry, argue but don’t throw these insults out there as you would any other. Especially in an age when snowflakes seem to take offense from the smallest, most innocent misjudgment of someones relationship, sex or preference for one lifestyle or another. Mistaking someone for a racist or a Nazi is unforgivable and the shame is in fact very upon you rather than them.