If you’ve ever been in a noisy environment such as a workplace or concert venue, you know how hard it is to understand what someone is saying. Maybe you or someone you know is hard of hearing and things must be repeated to carry on a conversation. But what if there is no noise and you can hear perfectly what the other person is saying but still don’t understand? I’m not talking about a language barrier. I’m talking about the change in definitions that totally changes the meaning of words so that you don’t know what the person is saying. You may even appear to agree until you find out that you are using the same vocabulary but not the same glossary. This is a huge problem in our day.
There’s a known phenomenon where teenagers flip the meaning of words to create the slang of their day. For instance, in the ’80s someone might say, “That’s bad,” but what they really mean is that it’s really good. In the ’90s, someone would say, “That’s totally wicked,” but would mean that was really awesome. Even today, you may hear the words, “That was sick.” What they really are saying is, “That was incredible and we should do it again.” I’m sure this phenomenon has been going on for decades before. It may be annoying to the previous generations, but these changes are ones that most people get used to and become understandable over time. Technically the definitions of those words haven’t changed, they’re just being used in a slang way to mean something else. But this post is about the actual changing of definitions so that you think the person speaking is saying what you are hearing, but they really mean the opposite. In other words, it’s a purposeful lie.
I’m going to give a most recent example of a definition change that’s going to get me in trouble. I’m not going to discuss it any further than using it as an example. That word is vaccine. There is no such thing as a COVID vaccine. The shot is a treatment for COVID, but it doesn’t fit the definition of a vaccine. Therefore, the CDC changed the definition of a vaccine so that the COVID treatment shot could be declared a vaccine. This way, the Emergency Authorization Use for vaccines could be used to distribute the shot as it was. You know all about that. So here we are now. Without the definition change, the shot did not fit under the EAU declaration. They had to change the definition in order to do what they did. Agree with the shot or not, they lied to accomplish their goal.
That’s a really big example, but it doesn’t stop there. Democrats say the border is closed, but millions are flooding into the country without consequence. Did they change the definition of the word closed? Democrats say the Hunter Biden laptop is a conspiracy. The facts show it to be authentic. Did they change the definition of the word conspiracy? Reporters have claimed the riots of 2020 to be “mostly peaceful” protests while buildings burn behind them and people have been killed. Did they change the definition of the word peaceful? They claim that January 6th was an insurrection, but no one has been charged with insurrection though many are still being held in jail without a trial. Did they change the definition of the word insurrection? Never mind that they ignore the Constitutional rights of those being held in jail. Did they change the definition of the word law? To contrast, there have been protests inside state legislatures that fit the description of an insurrection, but they are called peaceful protests. There are those definitional changes to the words peaceful and insurrection again. It’s all lies. And they are doing it for a purpose. To condition the populace.
My biggest pet peeve is lying. And the biggest lie that peeves me the most is when people say these United States are a democracy. Even as I typed that, auto-correct wanted to change that to say “the United States is.” The proper way to say it is with the word these. States is plural, so it should be these and not the. THESE States are United to create our nation known as These United States. Ironically, other nations know that, but we are being conditioned to believe that we are a democracy. As a democracy, the majority of the national populace should decide things. That would eliminate the sovereignty of the States. That in turn would diminish the authority of the Constitution because it was established by the States. And that is the goal. The sovereignty of the States stands in the way of the Democratic plan to override the Constitution to treat this nation as one body of people instead of 50 States that each have a voice.
Now look at that. I got off-topic and went on a rant. The point is, by changing definitions, or treating words as though they mean the opposite of what they mean, they are conditioning us to believe something that is a lie. It’s all meant to train us in how we are to think. It’s gas-lighting. It’s George Orwell’s 1984 and the Ministry of Truth. It’s all false.
In book four of Gulliver’s Travels, Johnathan Swift tells of Gulliver meeting some horse creatures called Houyhnhnms. In the course of events, Gulliver mentions a lie and the Houyhnhnms don’t understand that word. Gulliver explains that a lie is something you say that isn’t true in order to deceive someone. The Houyhnhnms tell Gulliver that conversations are meant to explain ideas and have a common understanding. There should be no purpose for a lie in conversation. (Isn’t that a novel idea.) The very purpose of a lie is to deceive. And anything that is meant to deceive is a lie.
I grew up as a pastor’s kid. My father used many illustrations over the years and repeated some for sure. One of them that has always stuck with me was his explanation of lying. He said that even if you are telling the truth but you leave out some of the information with the intent to make someone believe what you want them to believe instead of the whole truth, then you are still lying. An example I’m sure we can all relate to would be a child that gets in caught doing something they shouldn’t. They may tell their parents the truth about the situation while leaving out the part that might get them in trouble. They are still lying to their parents.
So what’s the conclusion of this matter? Definitions are changing, so what can we do about it? First of all, ask people what they mean. Make them define what they are saying. Keep asking questions until you get an understanding of what they are really, and I mean really, saying. You may have seen the recent interview Elon Musk did with a British reporter. The reporter claimed that he had seen a lot of hate speech on Twitter lately and wanted to know what Elon was going to do about it. Elon asked for an example. The reporter couldn’t give any. Elon kept questioning the reporter’s claim and discovered the truth. The reporter hadn’t been on Twitter in a while so he hadn’t seen any hate speech on the platform. He lied in order to condition his audience to believe that there is much hate speech on Twitter. That’s another example of gas-lighting, which is trying to alter history so people believe something is true when it is not. But there are literally changes in definitions happening today. My advice is to buy the oldest, printed dictionary you can find and keep it handy. I recently bought The New Oxford American Dictionary published in 2001. I’m looking for dictionaries from the 1980s, 1950s, and even the early 1900s. I want to know when someone is gaslighting me and lying to me. And I want to be prepared to call them out for doing it.
Be equipped. Be knowledgable. And be ready to challenge a lie. Don’t let others believe someone’s lie. Call them out and be a witness for the truth.
Proverbs 18:17 “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”
Oh, I almost forgot. One word the Democrats don’t have a definition for is woman.
Great article! So many truths that people need to wake up to.