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Choose Words Judiciously
The dictionary says racist is an adjective; the noun, racism, is the practice of racial discrimination, segregation. Catholic Catechism, which informs our family, says any form of discrimination is incompatible with God’s design. It’s morally intolerable.
There are people, unfortunately, who do have racial bias; but not nearly as many as get labeled racist for all kinds of reasons. One of the recent victims was me. Last week on Facebook a friend called me racist. It didn’t have anything to do with the way I live my life, raised my family, how I behave, what I believe, or anything I say or do. It was a “survey” on Face book that began by stating there would be no dialogue or discussion, just check yes or no: In your opinion is Trump a racist? Normally, I wouldn’t bother, but this was posted by a friend, and it was only one word, so okay, I checked NO. What followed immediately was a long dissenting post from her about who I really am because since I don’t think President Trump is a racist, therefore I’m a racist. This is an educated woman who spent her career in education. Her diatribe (noun meaning a bitter, abusive denunciation) would have been hurtful except that it was so off-base and irrational, based on emotion and not a shred of evidence, and not logical. She knew as she wrote it that it wasn’t true. She’s known me since we were 13 and she's never heard or seen one reason from me to indicate racism.
That’s what I mean by misusing words. She needed a word to describe her frustration, her anger, her disappointment in me because I don’t share her opinion. An opinion is a privately held belief or assessment which seems probable to the holder of the opinion. There is no right or wrong opinion. And she solicited my opinion.
Words and their meanings do change over centuries of use, but that’s not what’s happening here. In just a few years this word – RACIST – has been bandied about so freely and misused so carelessly that its real meaning is being lost and diluted. It’s a strong, divisive word that means only one thing, with no alternative meanings. It must not become the go-to adjective meaning anyone with a dissenting opinion. Find another word.