Linguistic Failures

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

I'm concerned by the recent linguistic failure in our society.

 

For example:

 

The official definition of a bigot is as follows: "a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions"

 

The use of Bigot is currently wrong in a couple ways. For one, using "bigot" w/ respect to religion or race is questionable in because, religion is taken as a fact (isn't that the point) and race is a fact too. 

 

The words you are looking for here are Religious intolerance and racism

 

Another example would be "somethingphobia"

 

A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no real danger.

 

Now lets look at two examples here. Homophobia vs Islamaphobia. 

 

People overgeneralize Islam in their fear of Daesh, thus fearing Islam (wrongly or not isn't the debate here)

 

People are turned off by a different kind of sexual interaction, while some individuals may believe homosexuality is a decease which can be spread, the vast majority of "homophobes" simply dislike the practice instead of fearing it

 

The underlying problem I have noticed, one often spread by the media, is the over sensationalizing of words and adding an element of fluidity to the definition of words to further a case

 

For an example, an interpretation of Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13, through the definition is a, but not the, correct explanation of a text. So wouldn't intolerance of any, not outright in factual interpretation, be bigotry?

 

Yet you will never see the media take it as such.

 

Society as a whole really needs to stop dick riding dramatics and be able to have conversations without these flasified terms 

[ihop]

eh?

[Aix]

Words will always take on colloquial meanings. These meanings eventually become official. It's basically how languages evolve.

[Tourmaline]

decease

Language evolves through women, by the way, not just colloquialisms.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Language evolves through women, by the way, not just colloquialisms.

Oh lol, that's ironically humiliating haha

[vla1ne]

So you're saying that people are using the incorrect meanings of words, and it (i assume) irks you? ok, i can agree with it to an extent, but as aix said, language evolves in that way, the real issue i think is that currently, a large amount of people are using these words in such a context soley to shut out opposing viewpoints. 

 

For instance, with your example of bigot, the word is generally used to call out people when they criticize other opinions, but this is not quite in line with the actual meaning, and in many cases, it's used as an end-all in discussions, as if the opposing side had zero valid points, when in actuality, the word bigot was simply used to turn ears away from the argument before it could even be heard. so instead of using the word in the context it's meant to be, and call out those who actually hold bigoted beliefs, it's instead used in an attempt to shut out any opposing voices, using the actual definition as a cover under false pretenses.

 

so inferring from that assuming you agree with it, the real issue here is that while people misusing words is a natural evolution of language, the current trend of using negative labels under incorrect contexts, is having a negative effect on intelligent arguments. and the media, due to their influence holds a large amount of responsibility for this trend.

 

would that be agreeable?