The newspaper Blaze said in an article, “How do you change the way people think? You start by changing the words they use.” (The Blaze)
When I was younger, I read a historical novel based on the life of Molly Pitcher. One of the chapters was titled “The Gay Family” I was puzzled over the fact that you could have a “gay family” I thought only individuals could be gay. My mom explained that being gay used to mean something different than it does now; it used to mean being happy. Suddenly it all clicked in my head; the chapter title made sense. What if it had been the other way around? What if someone had asked me if I was gay, and I said yes because I thought it meant happiness?
Definitions are important because they give power to words and tell us what words mean when communicating with others. I believe that he who controls the definitions of words controls the world. How is this the case? When meanings are changed, thoughts are changed, and when you can change the thoughts of others, you can control them.
First, words change in four ways: naturally over time, purposeful change, shifting definitions, and words omitted from the dictionary.
Some words change naturally over time, not for any specific reason but by being used differently. For example, awful used to mean “full of awe” now means terrible, and trolls changed from little figurines with spiky colored hair to annoying people on the internet. Words will change over time, and that’s fine; the problem lies with purposeful redefinition.
Purposeful re-definition is when people intentionally change words to change their culture or belief in something. For example, the definition of female in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary was changed. Now, a female is “of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs.” (Merriam-Webster). The use of the word “typically” was added to suggest that a female could not have these capacities. The definition of the male added the exact “typically” phrase too. When the words male and female can be used to reference people who are not biologically man or woman. This gives the legal right for men to enter the women’s bathroom under the pretense that they are just a female that doesn’t have the sex of a woman.
Another example is the definition of marriage. Congress has redefined marriage as “ a legal union between two people as spouses.” (Congress.gov). Instead of Noah Webster’s definition, “the act of uniting a man and woman for life.” (Noah Webster) What is the impact of this? When marriage is redefined as anyone who wants to be in a relationship recognized by law, all the benefits and rights that married men and women receive are legally transferred to unions of the same sex. Now everyone is forced to accept them, even to the point of lawsuits over not baking a cake. This leads to the undermining and protection of families and has opened the door for other “family structures” to be included, such as polygamy.
In recent days we have found that there are many words with shifting definitions. A word such as “woman” can mean something different than how it is defined. In an article called “War on Free Speech,” the author Graham Noble says, “Progressives do not want words to have definitions at all. The problem with definitions is that they are absolute. Great emphasis [has been] on not only restricting free speech but also controlling language and insisting that only “approved” words can be used. Control what words people use – and what those words mean – and you eventually control how people think and then how they behave.” (War on Free Speech)
Other words are omitted from the dictionary. Yeonmi Park, a young lady born and raised in North Korea, escaped to America, where she fights for human rights and stands against socialism and communism. In her video, “My Terrifying Escape from North Korea,” she said, “There is no word for oppression, there is no word for liberty, and of course, there is no word for compassion; why do[es] the regime get rid of these words [it] is because who controls the language, controls the thoughts. If they get rid of these words in our dictionary, that means we don’t know the concept of human rights, we don’t know the concept freedom, and that’s how they control our thinking.” (Yeonmi Park) This is happening in our culture today; Stanford University, Colorado State University, and others have put together a list of banned words. American is changed to “U.S. citizen” because calling yourself an American means putting yourself above those living in other parts of the Americas. You can’t use the word “Master bedroom” because the word master carries strong connections to slavery. And lastly, “killing two birds with one stone” promotes violence against animals and should be replaced with “getting two things done at once.” This may seem unreal, but it's happening now. Soon, we will end up like North Korea, where we won’t have words to describe concepts that are core to our society.
Ok, so there are words that change, but why does this matter? What’s the big deal? When words are redefined, thoughts are changed, and when you can change the thoughts of others by changing words, you can control them. If we redefine words, we will lose words of concepts we need to know and end up completely controlled, like in North Korea. Words also craft culture. The definition of words affects how we live our daily lives, how people interact and communicate with each other, and how the governing body of our state and country operates. If words are changed and redefined incorrectly, this will lead to the destruction of our society.
The destruction of our nation will come by what laws say. The Federalist said, “The righteous aim of the American experiment was to create a nation of laws, not of men. Today, written law is not supreme because words themselves are decaying.” (The Federalist) The U.S.A. was founded on biblical principles and moral laws instead of kings or rulers. Laws run on precedents, and precedents are recorded with words. When we change a word's definition, we change what centuries of law have stated. Since words have been re-defined or shift in definitions, men now control how laws are interpreted and ultimately control our nation.
Our society is heading for destruction, but we can stop it. We can stand by definitions and not let words be “undefinable.” We can stand against the redefinition of “woman,” which allows men into women’s sports and bathrooms. We can stand by teachers who don’t redefine what it means to do well in school. We can stand by those fighting for life- that aren’t letting babies be redefined as merely “clumps of tissue.”
By not using certain definitions for words, those terms are no longer used that way. If we stop using the wrong definitions, we can stop them from being used incorrectly. For example, don’t say “transgender” say “someone who suffers from gender dysphoria,” or instead of “gay marriage,” use the term “gay union,” Say “pregnant mother,” not “birthing person,” “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.”
The last way we can stand is in the pronoun department. One of my friends was asked by her healthcare provider, “What are your preferred pronouns?” If you come into this situation, you could say, “I have a different perspective on human genders.” Stand up for what is true, and don’t call people by their preferred pronouns. When you do, you acknowledge that pronouns are changeable and agree with the ideology behind the words. This is a simple way of not allowing definitions to change.
We have just seen how he who controls the definitions of words controls the world. We must fight to control the meaning of our words because he who changes the meaning of words changes the thoughts, and he who changes thoughts controls the people.
Professor Meriwether was a teacher at Shawnee State University. When he refused to call one of his students by their preferred pronouns, the University brought Meriwether into a lawsuit. This case reached the 6th circuit, which ruled that the University had violated Meriwether’s right to free speech. According to Alliance Defending Freedom, “The 6th Circuit explained that if professors lacked free-speech protections when teaching, a university would wield alarming power to compel ideological conformity.” (ADF) The result was the declaration from the University that it would never force Meriwether to use a student’s preferred pronouns again and repaid the cost of the case. Because Meriwether stood up for the right definitions, he changed the enforcement of preferred pronouns in his university. We can do the same.
Dr. Brown once said, “Speak wisely. Speak graciously. But speak truthfully, without compromise. If you don’t do that today, then come tomorrow, you won’t be able to speak the truth at all.” (Ask Dr. Brown)
Works Cited-
John Whitehead, Death of Free Speech: When You Control the Words, You Control the
Narrative, TheBlaze, June 29, 2021, Oct. 21, 2022, Death of Free Speech: When You Control the Words, you control the Narrative - TheBlaze
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Oct. 21, 2022, Truth Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Webster, Noah. American Dictionary of the English Language. Foundation for American Christian Education, 1882.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Oct. 21, 2022, Fact Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Oct. 21, 2022, Female Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
“H.R.4170 - Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2021” Congress.Gov, accessed 1/2/2023, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4170?s=1&r=74
Graham J Noble, War on Free Speech- Control the Words and You Controls Behavior, Liberty Nation News, August 29, 2022, Oct. 21, 2022, War on Free Speech – Control the Words and You Control Behavior - Liberty Nation
Park, Yeonmi, “Stories of Us- Yeonmi Park: My Terrifying Escape from North Korea” Youtube, uploaded by PragerU, February 2, 2022, Stories of Us — Yeonmi Park: My Terrifying Escape from North Korea - YouTube
Benjamin R Dierker, How The Left’s War On Words Manipuates Your Mind, The Federalist, May 1 2018, Oct. 21, 2022, How The Left’s War On Words Manipulates Your Mind (thefederalist.com)
Micheal L Brown, Those Who Control the Language Control the Culture, Ask Dr. Brown, Sep. 08, 2020, Oct. 21, 2022, Those Who Control the Language Control the Culture | Ask Dr. Brown (askdrbrown.org)
Barham, Travis, and Tyson Langhofer. “Meriwether V. The Trustees of Shawnee State University” 12/7/2022, https://adflegal.org/case/meriwether-v-trustees-shawnee-state-university
