Terms like "Marxist" and "communist" were once widely misused but had faded from the spotlight. Now, Trump is doing everything he can to label Kamala Harris a Marxist. She is not, in any way, a Marxist. Yes, she floated the misguided idea of price controls, but Nixon actually implemented them, and Marx never advocated such measures. Marxism has very specific meanings. While there were Marxists within the Democratic Party in the distant past, they abandoned those ideas long ago as the party became just another corporate entity.
I also hate how the left abuses words like "fascist" and "Nazi." Trump is not remotely a Nazi. These words, too, have precise meanings, and the dynamics they describe are fundamentally different from what's happening now.
It's become impossible to discuss the real ways our society could go wrong because these terms have been so bastardized that meaningful conversation is drowned out by noise.
I take issue with how the phrase "words have meanings" has been twisted. It no longer serves to highlight the misuse of language but has become a way to shut down conversations—to say, "How dare you say that," or "You're not signaling virtue correctly." It's turned into a demand for conformity: "Be a team player, or else."
But the phrase "words have meanings" has existed for a long time—since my childhood—and it used to mean exactly what it says: stop abusing words for their emotional impact when you're completely perverting their meaning. You're not making a metaphor; you're just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. When you call someone a Marxist, a fascist, cancer, or any number of other slurs, you're not contributing to the conversation. You're undermining our ability to communicate effectively and distorting reality. Worse, you're degrading both your ability to think and our society's capacity to make good decisions through political discourse. This isn't just a minor problem; it's a significant threat to our collective ability to think clearly and solve real problems.
So, stop it. Words have meanings.
This reckless use of language—tossing words around just for their emotional impact—is Orwellian in nature, a form of doublespeak. When words are stripped of their meaning and repurposed for emotional manipulation, we enter a world of Newspeak and doublethink. If we allow this to continue, we lose our grip on reality itself, as well as our ability to think critically and engage in honest political discourse.