Words I Don’t Like
There are words that have become ubiquitous in our vocabularies that I just don’t like to use. Some of these started out as legitimate terms but have taken on modern meanings that I don’t want to support.
Values: These are created by people. Because different people have different “values,” they cannot be debated. After all, a debate would only be an appeal to someone’s values. Which value system do you use? How do you decide? You don’t. Use this word when you want to keep people from offending you by questioning one of your beliefs or actions.
Lifestyle: This word is a very recent one, I’m sure. I can’t imagine that before the rise of the middle class and radical individualism the idea that people can choose to live different “lifestyles” arose. Use this word when you want to declare that a class of behavior is not debatable.
These words obviously have legitimate usage, but often they are thrown out simply to keep us from talking about what is really going on. They’re a sort of secret code. There are more examples, but I don’t want to go into all of them right now.
This is not to say that there shouldn’t be any variety to people’s lives or to what their interests are. It is to say that these things are secondary and must be grounded in the recognition of a set of core principles.
