Words mean things
Caught two bits of news last week on the local radio. The language was of concern to me. In one instance, the newsperson referred to people buying insurance at healthcare.gov as “consumers”. Kind of implies some sort of market relationship but I don’t think those forced to buy .gov health care are really consumers in any sense of the word.
The next bit was about the TSA agent that was shot and killed by a nutjob at LAX. They referred to him as “the first TSA agent killed in the line of duty”. That didn’t sit well either.
November 11th, 2013 at 2:29 pm
IF the TSA agent’s duty was to be a civil rights violating Brown Shirt, then sure.
November 11th, 2013 at 2:41 pm
It didn’t sit well with you because it took this long for there to be a first one?
November 11th, 2013 at 3:23 pm
I’m not sure “consumer” really implies a market relation, in itself.
(I consume air, but it’s not an economic good at all, for instance.
And if the State forces medical care on me, I’m still consuming it, just not voluntarily.
Now, if they’d said customer, I’d be more inclined to complain about the word not fitting; even if they force me to pay, “customer” implies a voluntary relationship in a way that “consumer” doesn’t quite.)
November 11th, 2013 at 5:15 pm
There’s a fairly long history of Progressives trying to use the language of liberty to describe their coercion, hoping that no one will notice.
FDR’s Economic Bill of “Rights” is but one example, with “Freedom from Want” and all the rest.
More recently, they’ve framed Cap & Trade as a “market solution”.
Evil has a very limited playbook, and it is pretty damned dumb.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Typically the proponents of Obamacare justified it by saying healthcare is a right. Well, if so, then a right is something we choose to exercise for ourselves and it is something we can waive and not exercise. Obamacare is the opposite of both.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:59 pm
Let me translate further;
“You have the ‘right’ to be forced to depend upon a system of coercion, such that you’ll end up with no choice but to defend and support that system of coercion.”
Such “Rights” are horrible then, like everything else the left touches. They’re very good at taking something beautiful, like “Compassion”, “Charity”, “Peace” or “Unity” and turning it into a ghoulish nightmare.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:03 pm
Or as Ayn Rand put it back in the 1960s, a “Morbid Absurdity”. (This is far from new, Kids)
November 12th, 2013 at 10:47 am
The Preamble of the Bill of Rights and their wording should forbid government’s infirngement or violation of our rights.
November 12th, 2013 at 10:52 am
The TSA’s duty is to search, seize, and fondle.
November 12th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
Glad I’m not the only one who tries to see the angles behind every news report.
November 12th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
“The Preamble of the Bill of Rights and their wording should forbid government’s infirngement or violation of our rights.”
I have yet to understand how a piece of paper (or parchment) is supposed to stop the infringement or violation of our rights. How does that work, exactly? Do you cram the parchment into the violators’ throats to block the air pathway? Please explain.
November 12th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Good point, Lyle. It’s “the Supreme Law of the Land”, but there isn’t any swift sure justice for the unlawful behavior of government officials who have and are trampling the Bill of Rights, left and right. Our only reciourse is impeachment, but the “party spirit” against which George Washington warned, seems to have effectively neutralized theat remedy.
November 12th, 2013 at 5:48 pm
I heard the report this morning about the TSA agent “killed in the line of duty,” and I did a double take on that as well. Line of duty, thpppt.