We have elected to take a short “breather” from the upsetting subject of Donald Trump’s outrageous extralegal actions such as unitarily directing the bombing of ships at high sea, his Godzilla-like destruction of the Nation’s White House, his autocratic creation of a masked “Palace Army” to intimidate and arrest peaceful Hispanic Americans, illegally enriching himself by his illegal acceptance of huge international and domestic bribes, his autocratic prosecution of political opponents, and his ubiquitous denigration of the Constitution and the American rule of law. Our expression of citizen outrage can barely be contained, despite the sincerity of the above declaration of intention to avoid such a disturbing subject.
Notwithstanding said initial dissonant remarks, the theme and purpose of this writing are specifically intended to address and appropriately rehabilitate certain prominently misused terms, relative to the subject of racial inequality. It is our thematic intention to clarify and rehabilitate these terms by furnishing their accurate context and appropriate use. The moral and societal justification for these ubiquitously misused expressions, as understood in their proper context, is, nevertheless, dependent upon the reader’s objective recognition of past American history, in sync with the conceptual intention of the particular, thematic terminology.
An instructive example of the phenomenon of tactical misuse of words is evident in the populist accusation of the reductive epithet of “Socialism.” Despite the willing acceptance of governmentally humanistic programs such as Social Security and disability programs, unemployment insurance, and the various humanistic programs of citizen assistance, the populist propagandist dissonantly chooses to condemn all empathic government programs as the dreaded “Socialism.” In contrast to the reductively ignorant epithet of “Socialism,” or “Socialist,” the term has an appropriate reference to a political system in which the government is the owner and proprietor of all national business enterprises. One would have an insurmountable difficulty in locating many American citizens who would ascribe to such a political-economic system.
We find it impossible to conceive of a more egregiously offensive example of cognitive dissonance than the societally accepted program of deprivation of the natural right to life of kidnapped human beings, with the simultaneous delusion of virtue and morality of freedom-loving. church-going morality. Yet as late as 1857, the assigned status of “Slave” as mere farm equipment was judicially confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court (J. Taney, Dred Scott case).
History (and current events) demonstrate that even the Reconstruction Amendments and much subsequent ameliorative legislation have proved to be insufficient to propel the nation’s population of African Americans to full equality.. Sadly, un-American proclivities seem to stubbornly endure..
Two illustrative instances of populistic transmogrification and misuse of objectively acceptable terms, relating to the goal of amelioration of racial prejudice, are seen in the tactical and reductive perversion of the terms “woke” and “DEI” to words that signify governmental repression.
In the pursuit of the Democratic Republic’s avowal of citizen equality, certain aspirational standards and related vocabulary have evolved to measure and ensure the attainment of such salubrious goals. We are desirous of expressing the intrinsic value and moral justice of the two most-heard statements tactically deprecated and employed by bigoted populism.
“WOKE”
The relative difficulty, in general, of black Americans to obtain financing, employment, home ownership, admission to country clubs, and the like, as compared with white Americans, is factually undeniable. The universal awareness of this societally skewed “White Privilege” is empirically observable and is referenced by the slang word “Woke,” meaning aware, or awakened to such inequity..
Notwithstanding the thematic misuse by the bigoted underbelly of the slang term as an epithet, purposely meaning ardently leftist, politically correct, and dogmatically liberal. Such propagandistic misuse of the true intention of such salutory word for “socially aware” has been anecdotally epitomized by the MAGA-inspired, bigoted Governor of Florida, who has proudly declared, “Woke comes to this State of Florida, to die.” Said tactically misinterpreted epithet has been ubiquitously employed by racists in reference to “woke military.” “woke ideology,” ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
“DEI”:
This acronym stands for the societally salubrious elements of ” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” aimed at creating a welcoming environment for individuals, regardless of the nuance of their backgrounds. Despite the evident virtue and salubrious context of this expressed aspiration, the acronym “DEI” has been perversely and negatively utilized to envision a governmental program of intrusive attack on individual American liberty. and freedom of choice. This bizarre perversion of a clearly stated societal goal has irrationally and tactically been utilized as an intrusive impediment to the achievement of racial justice.
It appears that the level of ignorance requisit the reductive judgment of other American citizens by the degree of melanin in their skin is haplessly in sync with the lack of ability to independently and rationally evaluate matters of plain human justice.
-p.
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