My RSS Feeds
EUPHEMISMS: Let's Cut The Crap - One Does Not "Pass Away", One Dies!
Originally published July 10, 2005 @ http://tabacco.myblogsite.com/
EUPHEMISMS:
Let’s Cut The Crap -
One Does Not
"Pass Away",
One Dies!
EUPHEMISM defined:
Euphemism, noun
: the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also: the expression so substituted
Euphemist, noun... a person who uses euphemisms
Euphemistic, adjective
Euphemistically, adverb... using euphemism
Euphemize: to express or describe euphemistically.... euphemize death: pass on, pass away, go to heaven
(Source: Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary & World Book Mac OS X Edition)
Euphemisms foster and abet fallacious myths and grotesque lies, usually dangerous ones, to become unchallenged, accepted facts. Euphemisms become accepted because people are embarrassed about accepting the unvarnished truth.
"Gay" is a euphemism for homosexual.
"Irreconcilable Differences" is usually a euphemism for fornication or cheating in marriage or having sex with someone who’s not your spouse. There I’ve said it!
Aunt Birdie isn’t sick; she's just drunk all the time. In the 1941 film “The Little Foxes”, Patricia Collinge's character, Birdie Hubbard, confesses to her niece that she doesn't have "headaches". That is a euphemism for her alcoholic binges.
Bill Clinton did have sex..oral sex is sex. On TV you can’t say, “Yeah he f_____ her; so euphemisms are unavoidable. But with what goes on today on Maury, Jerry Springer, Judge Mathis etc., aren’t you sick of that old chestnut “Did you sleep together?”
My cousin, Anna, didn’t die of lupus, she had AIDS. Secrecy is truly dangerous here because others let their guard down and don’t take precautions against getting this disease, which still has no cure - I repeat, there is NO CURE FOR AIDS!
Anna's mother, Annabelle, and my mother, Elveta, were sisters. Elveta was the youngest of five Grasty girls. About five years ago, in a three-way telephone conversation among Anna, my brother Earl and me, Anna stated authoritatively that her mother, Annabelle, was born in 1900. She had seen the birth certificate. Earl had seen our mother's birth certificate also, which also had 1900 as the year of birth. Because of the closeness of their birth months, it was impossible for them both to be born in 1900. And I did not doubt either Anna's eyesight or her memory. I have theorized that because in the period around 1900 in the State of Virginia, it was impossible for "Negroes" to get birth certificates, Annabelle was born in 1899. When grandma got pregnant (not the euphemism "in the family way") with Elveta, grandpa waited for the second birth before going to Johnson City, TN, in 1900 to get both birth certificates. The clerk obviously made an error and recorded both births in 1900. Hence, the discrepancy. I further theorized that grandma and grandpa never told Elveta and Annabelle, when they were children, the truth about having to go to another State to get their birth certificates, because of their shame re segregation in the South. My aunt Annabelle probably died without knowing the truth about her date of birth. Silence can also be euphemism.
My aunt Dora, my mother's sister, and her husband, Will, raised me. Will was a dining car waiter on the Southern Railroad. When I was 7 or 8 year's old about 1950, he took me with him on his run to Jacksonville, FL. We got a hotel room and a newspaper. We looked at the movie section of the paper. Every movie I wanted to see was off-limits. He never told me why we couldn't see any of the good movies. To this day I remember seeing Claudette Colbert in "Cleopatra". Again, silence can be euphemism. My uncle was ashamed of segregation and did not want to have to explain it to me and why he couldn't do anything about it. To this day I will not watch Colbert's "Cleopatra".
The South is not solidly Republican because of the abortion issue nor because of its stand against homosexual marriage, the Southern whites are solidly Republican now because of their racism, fear and hatred of blacks just as they used to be solidly Democratic for the same reasons until Kennedy-Johnson precipitated a switch. Strom Thurmond converted from Democrat to Republican in 1964; Jesse Helms switched parties in 1972.. R.I.N.O. (Republican In Name Only). Most Southern white Democrats never re-registered as Republicans. They just voted that way and maintained their registration as Democratic. Abortion and homosexual marriage were not even issues in 1964 or 1972. Race was an issue and still is. Few news commentators, even black ones, have the courage to call it what it is - RACISM. They instead euphemize the South's solidarity with the Republican Party as "religious" opposition to "gay" marriage and "partial birth abortion". Euphemism at its most insidious.
If George W. Bush is a "Compassionate Conservative", then so was Adolf Hitler. An instance of deliberate deception, which falls under the heading of euphemism. Here it is especially dangerous because the lie becomes reality for many.
GWB's Iraqi War "To bring democracy to Iraq" is another instance of euphemistic lying. All he’s brought them is genocide, terrorism, unsafe drinking water & poverty. Halliburton, on the other hand, is doing very well - Thank you.
The "No Child Left Behind" Act is another instance in which euphemism has a sinister motive.
Let's not forget the "Clean Air Act".
When Bush wanted to give the rich a tax break, instead of saying so, he said to one and all, "It's your money". He just didn't explain the math so we could see who got most of it. Sinister euphemism again.
When liberal or moderate news commentators refer to GWB's allegations re Saddam's WMD'S, they say, "Bush erred". George W. Bush didn’t err in his assessment of WMD’s in Iraq; he lied purposefully. The commentators are protecting us from what, the truth? That secrecy promotes tyranny is proven by this episode in American history.
Bush keeps asking for an “Up or Down” Vote for his supreme court nominees, as if that's how it has always been done, and Democrats are messing with tradition and the forces of nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why don't the Democrats call him on it? The truth is the Republicans have a voting majority in both Houses. An up or down vote ensures that Bush automatically wins. Democrats, the minority party, are entitled to use filibuster, which was installed as a protection against a tyrannical majority by the “Founding Fathers”. Why are Democrats afraid to tell the unvarnished truth? Bush is euphemistically conning the American public.
Republicans since Reagan have referred to Liberals as the "L" word, as if being a Liberal is somehow evil or un-American. And we let them get away with it. I know. I was ashamed of being Liberal for years. Liberals now call themselves "Progressives". Well, folks, Tabacco is a L-I-B-E-R-A-L and proud of it. Saying nothing allows the Joseph McCarthys and the George W. Bushs to get away with hypocrisies of the worst kind.
Tom DeLay keeps talking about a “Fair Trial”. Nobody wants a fair trial, innocent or guilty - not the DA, not lawyers, not the defendant, especially not the guilty ones. Everyone wants an unfair advantage. And DeLay is not innocent! Delay wants an unfair trial, run by a Republican judge in an atmosphere wherein he looks like a martyr, whom Democrats are attacking for political reasons. The talk about a Fair Trial is euphemistic BS for "unfair advantage for me". Sorry about that BS euphemism, folks, but kids may be reading this.
Bush declares again and again that he wants “Strict Constructionist Judges”, who will interpret the Constitution and not "create law". May I remind our President that if that had always been the determining factor, I would still be segregated, if not a slave. No strict constructionist voted against slavery or segregation. The Founding Fathers were slave owners! They were White Supremacists! So what Bush wants is a return to slavery, segregation and White Supremacy of 1776. The original Constitution did not permit women to vote either. Maybe George should tell his "little woman" that he doesn't want her to vote anymore, just White men as the Founding Fathers originally decreed.
The “Trickle Down” Theory of Economics really means, "I’ve got mine, now you get yours the best way you can." Trickle Down is another dangerous euphemism. Call it what it is: Capitalistic Greed.
If we are ever going to stop tyranny, racism, unjustified wars and oppression of the elderly, the poor and the disenfranchised, we'd better stop the euphemizing and speak the plain truth. Euphemisms can kill! Black people, in particular, must do what Jewish parents have always done. Jews never miss an opportunity to instruct their children about what "Christians", "Islamics" and Nazis have done to them throughout history. Homosexuals, after decades of trying to go unnoticed, now scream loud and long about equality. Blacks, on the other hand, now seem to be trying to "go unnoticed". If you are Black, tell your children, your nephews and nieces, the neighbor's children and anyone, who will listen, about slavery, segregation, redlining, discrimination etc. Let's learn from the lessons of the past. "Going unnoticed" does not work. In a basically White country like the United States, Blacks stand out. Jews have only to remove their yarmulkes and Anglicize their names to "Go Unnoticed". Most Blacks do not have that option. So forget it. Scream loud and long for equality like Jews and homosexuals. And for heaven's sake, get rid of the euphemisms!
Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness!
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)