Linguistic Castration Circa 2023
When the male of a particular species is castrated, it removes the desire to engage and severs its overall purpose in society. Progress is impossible, and the lineage cannot move forward.
In the final posts of the calendar year, many sites will collectively assess new words that have come into prominence, either due to technology, social change, or overall boredom. Yet there are also words that similarly lose their meaning. If there is a common thread to be found in this phenomenon it would be the dropping of standards; college admissions being the most documented and obvious. But this trend has seeped into our everyday language as well.
A society ceases to function if its citizens can’t understand each other or even agree on the basic definition of words. Thanks to unprecedented affluence, leisure time, and the odd yearning for tension, we have thrust certain words and phrases around so carelessly that they become the verbal equivalent of a week-old bagel. Flavorless and impossible to digest. Here are the top five words that have been castrated in 2023.
5. Vaccine - Let’s stop the name calling for a moment. If in 1953, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine allowed just little bit of polio, or if your dog still got rabies after his rabies vaccine, would the word mean anything? No, it would not. While it’s documented that the CDC did in fact alter their own definition of vaccine just in time for the covid shot’s ineffectiveness to fall under that new nebulous umbrella, the word has now been applied to flu, shingles, pneumonia, and others. The vaccine standard has dropped so dramatically that inoculation is no longer a requirement. So, if vaccines no longer prevent you from giving or getting anything, nor is there any verifiable way of confirming the oft-quoted “yeah, but you get less sick!” - then let’s go back to what they are – pharmaceutical products that need to be labeled like the latest weight-loss fad – Results May Vary
4. Elite - This can apply to university administrators, professional classes in expensive neighborhoods, high-ranking people of industry, and lawmakers. These charlatans never deserved the label of elite, but now it’s more obvious that they are in fact beneath the public when it comes to normal moral codes of conduct. Our “elites” who occupy the highest levels of power in government and private industry are more likely to engage in plagiarism, perjury, tax evasion, bribery, environmental degradation, and sexual deviancy. How do we know? Because they’re so taken with their own superiority, they document it. We are rapidly approaching a time where like many words, ‘elite’ will perform a full inverse and mean the precisely the opposite.
3. “Green” - The labelling of a policy or initiative ‘green’ is designed to provoke thoughts of a secular Eden at the conclusion of said implementation. A pristine haven where there are no trade-offs for a world that lights us in the dark, cools us in the summer, and supplies internet porn all year round. If one thinks that field stripping entire mountains and exploiting third world children to retrieve miniscule amounts of rare earth metals so you can feel good about yourself is ‘green’, so be it. But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking it’s helping Gaia, the Mother Earth. Ask oneself why those most invested in shaming a generation into compliance likewise use the most energy and resources. They are the secular high priests of our age bathing in perpetual infidelity. ‘Green’ may symbolize in one’s mind a lush Jurassic world full of flowering plants and biting insects, but the only green to be found is the billions made by a select few that perpetuate this mother of all grifts.
2. Racist - Few words used to carry as much acid as being labelled a racist. In polite circles, it ranks above murderer for the worst things one can be called. But a funny thing happened on the way to mass judgment. Racist quickly became a juvenile putdown designed to stifle debate if one is cornered with annoying data. When you have a legion of academics declaring things such as a good night’s sleep, showing up on time, and physical fitness as racist, I would say “Congratulations! You have rendered this once powerful word vanilla flavored white bread. Oh, was that racist?” As a reminder, if everything is racist, then nothing is.
1. Experts - It was a toss-up, but ultimately “experts” wins out as the number one word that was rendered meaningless in 2023. Every time this appears in an article, blog, or podcast I can feel my eyes, ears, and brain glazing over. The experts in our society have told us; “take this shot you won’t get sick,” “the arctic will be ice free in 2010,” “inflation is good for you,” and so on. Pick your topic: health, law, weather, finance, war – doesn’t matter. Experts have been right on nothing yet are paid well and suffer no consequences for being wrong.
Definitional standards are one of the few things that used to bind a society together. If we don’t regain our grasp on the meanings of habitual words and phrases, we will drift into a collective stagnation. And it won’t be just the males who suffer a communal castration.