Redefining words to suit special interests

2015-05-01

I am getting very, very tired of special interests
redefining words in a manner favoring their interests.

Here is the most recent example of that phenomenon.

Consider the word "thug".
In my almost exclusively white education in the 1950s,
I learned the meaning of that word.
It meant, essentially, a person who used force to get what he
(I cannot recall an instance when it was used to describe a woman) wanted.
Likewise, "thuggish" referred to obtaining things by force.
The word had absolutely nothing to do with race.

Now, in 2015, come members of the black community
asserting that the word has a racial connotation:

In recent years,
members of the black community have said thug is
simply a politically correct replacement for racial slurs.
In January 2014, for example,
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said during a press conference,
“It seems like it’s the accepted way of calling somebody the N word nowadays.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Let me say it again: A thug is someone who gets his way by force.

Just because someone is black
doesn't make him (or her) immune from being, potentially, labeled a thug.
What is determinative about whether the word is appropriate
is the behavior of the individual, not their race.