Words Mean Things

[RAY THOMA$]

WORDS MEAN THINGS

Copyright © 1999 By Ray Thomas, Updated 2007

When you read what anybody writes, it's important that you understand the meanings of the words used as we use them, and as they are used by collectivists. For that reason we have provided this glossary defining them. You'll get a laugh out of many of them and some will teach you something profound you never knew. We will continue to add to this list as we find new ones.

ABSOLUTE: An undeniable truth. That which cannot be rationally denied under any philosophy based on reason and logic, and whose very existence (logic) is denied by subjectivists.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Legalized racism, perpetrated by the liberal elite to punish people for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. It is also used as a means to fan the flames of hatred, thus further dividing us so the liberals may more easily control us. An insult to blacks, Latinos, and women because it assumes that they can't make it without help. (On "dividing us," see "Diversity" below)

ALTRUIST (FORCED): The forced altruist can best be defined by their slogan: "FROM each according to his ABILITY, and TO each according to his NEED." What this means, in plain terms is: Take the fruits of creativity and productivity from those capable and willing to produce new wealth (profit) and give them to those who have not earned them (See: collectivist, elite liberal, the anointed, looter, below).

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: You're all Forrest Gump. (This is not our definition. It is the elitist definition. They think you're all of limited intelligence and have to be "led," for your own good.) And if you keep on allowing them to con you into ignoring politics, they may well be right.

ANTI-GOVERNMENT: This is how the power seekers describe anybody who opposes what they do as government employees. Actually, we aren't "anti-government," we're "anti-criminals in government." There's a subtle difference.

THE ANOINTED: The self-anointed "believers" in forced altruism and their own sovereignty over your rights and property. (See forced altruist)

AXIOM: It is a proposition that defeats its opponents by the fact that they have to accept it and use it in the process of any attempt to deny it. Good example: the looters' attempt to convince you that "there are no absolutes" by making an absolute statement that there are (absolutely*) no absolutes. (*word added for illustration)

BASIC PREMISE: It is an absolute that permits no cooperation with its antithesis (opposite) and tolerates no tolerance.

BLACK RACISM: Same as white racism, but directed against white people. (See Affirmative Action, Diversity)

BELIEVERS: Those who have bought, hook, line, and sinker, what the forced altruists (under whatever name they use) say is true and live by that belief. (See Liberal, Moocher.)

BOGUS POLLS: These help in convincing people you're right if you're a power seeker (liberal). (See: Hegelian Principle #2).

BUREAUCRAT: A political appointee, usually in the top echelon of government (But not always. Can be found at all levels of government and business), characterized by bureaucratic arrogance and lack of respect for the people they serve. Best comparison: the old "highborn aristocrat" (in their minds, at least) These people want to enact as many "regulations" as possible, taking rights away from citizens and giving them (the bureaucrats) the power to issue "permits" for things that used to be rights, and for which they don't have the right to "permit." Notice, they always "exempt" themselves. (See: The Anointed, Power Seekers)

COLLECTIVISM: This is a system that is the natural result of the institution of forced altruistic principals that say man has no right to exist for himself and only exists to serve others. The "collective" is "others." These are the only people who will benefit from altruism. They are the moochers.

CONFLICTING REGULATIONS: A standard tool of the forced altruist (looter, power seeker). One agency makes a regulation that is opposed by a regulation made by another agency. To obey the first is to violate the second. This way one or the other can "get" you any time they wish. (See" "Creating Criminals")

CORPORATE WELFARE: This does exist, but it isn't "tax breaks for the rich," as the liberal elite would have you believe. It is the million and even billion dollar "subsidies" given to big and small corporations by governments. It is this factor that created the myth of the "robber barons" of the 1800s. There were two kinds of businessmen: those who accepted subsidies, and those who succeeded without them (The former hate he latter). It is the former, rather than the latter who were the "robber barons."

CREATING CRIMINALS: "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one 'makes' them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on the guilt." (Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged")

CYNIC: Somebody who has been around long enough to have seen it all before, and thus is not buying it this time. By that definition I am definitely a cynic.

DIVERSITY: A looter invention designed to institutionalize the separation of races. It is creating "institutionalized racism," and will divide the races, religions, and sexes into easily controlled smaller groups who are too busy fighting one another to pay attention to what's being stolen from them.

GOVERNMENT SHAKEDOWN: Have you ever wondered why businesspeople keep on donating money to politicians, while at the same time those politicians are shaking them down for more? It's the old "protection racket" with a new twist: the government is the mobster demanding money so he will not bother them. A good example is the tobacco deal where they pay the government to keep people from suing them over their own stupidity. Another good example is the Microsoft Anti-Trust suit. Gates didn't pay off so they decided to just "take" it. (And they did. Now Gates, who has "learned his lesson) is saying he intends to give away all but 10% of his fortune.)

GOVERNMENT WORKERS: People working for the government, but who may or may not be bureaucrats. Most are good people, doing the job they were trained to do--- unless they become bureaucrats. Not all are bureaucrats, and they know a bureaucrat by his actions better than we do. They have to deal with him daily while we can limit our contact to once in a while. My brother used to work for the state government, and my niece still does. Neither could be described as "bureaucrats." (See Liberal And Bureaucrat.)

HEGELIAN PRINCIPLE: 1. Create a problem or build an existing one up out of proportion to its importance; 2. Publicize the problem far and wide, whipping up hysterical frenzy to get people to demand a solution; and 3. Offer a solution that takes away more rights and more money. (something not possible without the previous conditioning in steps one and two.) This gets people to approve their own enslavement (Ayn Rand calls it "The consent of the victim.").

HIGHLIGHTING: Part of the Hegelian Principle point 2: Find every story, anywhere, to promote your position, and plant it in the media daily. If you can't "find" any, make one up or twist something real to your needs.

HYSTERICS AS GOVERNMENT: Whipping people into a frenzy to get them to give you permission to rip them off. (See Hegelian Principle points 1 and 2.)

INCENTIVE: A necessary ingredient in the production of new wealth (profit). It is noticeably absent in a collective (forced altruist) society because when you take the profit away from the producer, he soon ceases to produce. And why should he continue to supply the "needs" of the parasites on society who say he owes them a gift of part of his earnings because they "need it?"

INDIVIDUALIST: The antithesis (opposite) of the collectivist in that he (she) insists that he has the right to exist for his own sake and provide for himself. To earn the fruits of that production for himself and keep it unless he/she makes the decision to help someone. He does not accept the forced altruist's contention that he owes something to the collective because he is a producer of profit (new wealth).

LIBERAL: These are good people who have been conned into believing in the unworkable premise of forced altruism. (See Altruists, Liberal Elite, Looter, moocher.)

LIBERAL ELITE: People who have consistently promoted the unworkable premise of forced altruism (collectivism), usually being fully aware of its faulty nature, but who continue because this is what allows them to control what others may do. (See The Anointed, Power Seekers)

LIBERALISM FULLY FUNDED: Probably the best illustration is Washington, D. C. in the 90s and beyond. It's in debt up to its ears, reelected a felon as mayor and its grafters sometimes manage to steal more than the Federal Government itself. Its infrastructure is in a mess and getting worse. Its murder rate is the highest in the nation while having some of the toughest gun laws. New Orleans is another example. They should, according to their lights, be a "perfect society," with no poverty, no race problems, and plenty of money for everybody, as well as NO unemployment, etc. But the hurricane showed graphically that is not true.

LOOTERS: Looters are those in government who tax the earnings of those who can produce new wealth through their ideas and their work, for the benefit of those who don't (moochers), seeing "need" as a "demand" on those earnings. (See: Forced Altruists, Liberal Elite, Parasites, Moochers, Socialists, Communists, Serial Power-Grabbers, Power Seekers, etc.)

MOOCHER: These are the people who think those who work and earn a living, those who produce new profit, somehow owe them something and need to "pay back" to society. Nobody needs to "pay back" to society unless it is their idea. This is a sub-category under "looter," with the main difference being that the moocher just waits for the looter to give him what he needs, in return for his vote to keep the looter in power. The looter is the one who actually steals it from the producer.

OBJECTIVISM: The "essence" of the Objectivist philosophy is this: "(It) is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." (Ayn Rand, from her masterwork, "Atlas Shrugged") In other words, an individual, working for him/herself, and not demanding gifts from others because of his/her "need," nor recognizing the need of others as a demand on his/her earnings.

PARASITES: One who lives by his/her ability to convince "producers" to support them because their "need" is a "demand" on their earnings. (See Looters, Moochers, Power Seekers, and all sub-categories.)

POWER-SEEKERS: These are the people who become looters, and steal the earnings of producers for the benefit of moochers, to gain the vote of those moochers to keep them in political office so as to keep the "goodies" coming. (See: "Serial Power Grabbers, looters.")

PRODUCERS: Those who know, at some level, that they cannot consume more, in their lifetime, than they produce, and through their productivity produce new wealth (profit) for themselves and others as an "exchange of values."

PROFIT: A profit is made whenever new wealth is created and both parties to a transaction benefit.

PROFIT, FAUX: "Faux profit" is made whenever only one party to a transaction benefits, such as when a bureaucrat sells a permit (he should have no right to sell) to someone either through law, or as graft. (All graft is "faux profit.")

PROTECTIVE STUPIDITY: In his classic book, "1984," George Orwell described what the "Thought Police" called "Crimestop." "Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, (English Socialism, or in our case, simple socialism) and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity." It strikes me that today's liberal dupes are practicing Crimestop.

PROBLEM: As used by the looters, it is a device they create as a means to condition people to allow them to usurp more rights as a means of solving the problem they created. (See: "Hegelian Principle" Step.1, and program)

PROGRAM OR PLAN: As used by power seekers, the words "program" or "plan" are interchangeable and mean yet another way to separate you from your money and your right to make your own decisions in life.

PULL PEDDLERS: These are the inevitable gangsters who take advantage of the looters' system and become rich by selling "pull," or influence. The pull peddler is the result when people are forced to get permission from faceless bureaucrats to be able to use their own property, or to do something that should be their right.

REASON: "Man's only means of knowledge and his only standard of truth. It is the faculty that perceives, identifies, and integrates the material provided by his senses." (Ayn Rand)

RIGHTS: Rights are those things to which you are entitled by right of birth, which do not have to be involuntarily supplied by others. It's not a right if, to give it to you, it must first be forcibly taken from someone else. There are certain rights to which each of us is entitled by right of birth, whether or not God is the source -- and they don't have to be "granted" by a government to be ours, though governments routinely take them away as they loot us.

SERIAL POWER-GRABBERS: These are the people whose only reason for living is to have power over others and who work diligently all their lives to attain it. They're mostly found in government service, but can also be found in private bureaucracies. (See: Bureaucrat, Looter, Elite Liberal, The Anointed, Power Seeker, Forced Altruist, Parasites, Socialists, Communists, Collectivists)

SOCIALISM: An invented philosophy that promotes the spread of forced altruism, in which you are not allowed to live for your own purposes, but must live for the betterment of others. Unfortunately, those others don't seem to want to live for your betterment. For them, taking is better than giving, from producers, at least. (See Collectivism, Forced Altruism, Communism, Fascism, and other "isms.")

SUBJECTIVISM: This is a philosophy which, through its denial of the existence of "absolutes," seeks to absolve the practitioner of all responsibility for his or her actions and allows subjectivist bureaucrats (a redundancy, that) to make laws and regulations that they are able to "interpret" in whatever way they wish so they can "get" you any time they want you.. Unfortunately for them, their basic premise: "there are no absolutes," is a "statement of an absolute," and itself negates their philosophy.

TANSTAAFL: "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." (Robert Heinlein in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress") Meaning: if you get it for free, there's still a price you must pay, somewhere. It may not be obvious, but it's there.

TRUE BELIEVERS: Those who know the truth about altruism and collectivism, but who work hard every day to convince people to be believers. These people are the "evil" in the world. (See The Anointed, Liberal Elite, Looters, Power Seekers)

TRULY NEEDY: Those who, through no fault of their own, honestly need help. This includes crippled people, people who have become ill, the mentally ill and others who just cannot take care of themselves. These are the people we can make our own decisions about helping, and many of us do. Americans are the most "giving" of anybody in the world.

TRUTH: The recognition of reality.

WELFARE LEECHES: The people who abuse the system that (we thought) was set up for the truly needy. Many do need help, but only because of their own bad choices (drug and alcohol abuse, etc.) In pandering to their needs, the looters steal money better spent helping the truly needy. (See moochers)

If you can think of any words that should be added to this list, please let me know.

[Mark Hyde]

WORDS MEAN THINGS

Copyright © 1999 By Ray Thomas, Updated 2007

When you read what anybody writes, it's important that you understand the meanings of the words used as we use them, and as they are used by collectivists. For that reason we have provided this glossary defining them. You'll get a laugh out of many of them and some will teach you something profound you never knew. We will continue to add to this list as we find new ones.

ABSOLUTE: An undeniable truth. That which cannot be rationally denied under any philosophy based on reason and logic, and whose very existence (logic) is denied by subjectivists.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Legalized racism, perpetrated by the liberal elite to punish people for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. It is also used as a means to fan the flames of hatred, thus further dividing us so the liberals may more easily control us. An insult to blacks, Latinos, and women because it assumes that they can't make it without help. (On "dividing us," see "Diversity" below)

ALTRUIST (FORCED): The forced altruist can best be defined by their slogan: "FROM each according to his ABILITY, and TO each according to his NEED." What this means, in plain terms is: Take the fruits of creativity and productivity from those capable and willing to produce new wealth (profit) and give them to those who have not earned them (See: collectivist, elite liberal, the anointed, looter, below).

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: You're all Forrest Gump. (This is not our definition. It is the elitist definition. They think you're all of limited intelligence and have to be "led," for your own good.) And if you keep on allowing them to con you into ignoring politics, they may well be right.

ANTI-GOVERNMENT: This is how the power seekers describe anybody who opposes what they do as government employees. Actually, we aren't "anti-government," we're "anti-criminals in government." There's a subtle difference.

THE ANOINTED: The self-anointed "believers" in forced altruism and their own sovereignty over your rights and property. (See forced altruist)

AXIOM: It is a proposition that defeats its opponents by the fact that they have to accept it and use it in the process of any attempt to deny it. Good example: the looters' attempt to convince you that "there are no absolutes" by making an absolute statement that there are (absolutely*) no absolutes. (*word added for illustration)

BASIC PREMISE: It is an absolute that permits no cooperation with its antithesis (opposite) and tolerates no tolerance.

BLACK RACISM: Same as white racism, but directed against white people. (See Affirmative Action, Diversity)

BELIEVERS: Those who have bought, hook, line, and sinker, what the forced altruists (under whatever name they use) say is true and live by that belief. (See Liberal, Moocher.)

BOGUS POLLS: These help in convincing people you're right if you're a power seeker (liberal). (See: Hegelian Principle #2).

BUREAUCRAT: A political appointee, usually in the top echelon of government (But not always. Can be found at all levels of government and business), characterized by bureaucratic arrogance and lack of respect for the people they serve. Best comparison: the old "highborn aristocrat" (in their minds, at least) These people want to enact as many "regulations" as possible, taking rights away from citizens and giving them (the bureaucrats) the power to issue "permits" for things that used to be rights, and for which they don't have the right to "permit." Notice, they always "exempt" themselves. (See: The Anointed, Power Seekers)

COLLECTIVISM: This is a system that is the natural result of the institution of forced altruistic principals that say man has no right to exist for himself and only exists to serve others. The "collective" is "others." These are the only people who will benefit from altruism. They are the moochers.

CONFLICTING REGULATIONS: A standard tool of the forced altruist (looter, power seeker). One agency makes a regulation that is opposed by a regulation made by another agency. To obey the first is to violate the second. This way one or the other can "get" you any time they wish. (See" "Creating Criminals")

CORPORATE WELFARE: This does exist, but it isn't "tax breaks for the rich," as the liberal elite would have you believe. It is the million and even billion dollar "subsidies" given to big and small corporations by governments. It is this factor that created the myth of the "robber barons" of the 1800s. There were two kinds of businessmen: those who accepted subsidies, and those who succeeded without them (The former hate he latter). It is the former, rather than the latter who were the "robber barons."

CREATING CRIMINALS: "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one 'makes' them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on the guilt." (Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged")

CYNIC: Somebody who has been around long enough to have seen it all before, and thus is not buying it this time. By that definition I am definitely a cynic.

DIVERSITY: A looter invention designed to institutionalize the separation of races. It is creating "institutionalized racism," and will divide the races, religions, and sexes into easily controlled smaller groups who are too busy fighting one another to pay attention to what's being stolen from them.

GOVERNMENT SHAKEDOWN: Have you ever wondered why businesspeople keep on donating money to politicians, while at the same time those politicians are shaking them down for more? It's the old "protection racket" with a new twist: the government is the mobster demanding money so he will not bother them. A good example is the tobacco deal where they pay the government to keep people from suing them over their own stupidity. Another good example is the Microsoft Anti-Trust suit. Gates didn't pay off so they decided to just "take" it. (And they did. Now Gates, who has "learned his lesson) is saying he intends to give away all but 10% of his fortune.)

GOVERNMENT WORKERS: People working for the government, but who may or may not be bureaucrats. Most are good people, doing the job they were trained to do--- unless they become bureaucrats. Not all are bureaucrats, and they know a bureaucrat by his actions better than we do. They have to deal with him daily while we can limit our contact to once in a while. My brother used to work for the state government, and my niece still does. Neither could be described as "bureaucrats." (See Liberal And Bureaucrat.)

HEGELIAN PRINCIPLE: 1. Create a problem or build an existing one up out of proportion to its importance; 2. Publicize the problem far and wide, whipping up hysterical frenzy to get people to demand a solution; and 3. Offer a solution that takes away more rights and more money. (something not possible without the previous conditioning in steps one and two.) This gets people to approve their own enslavement (Ayn Rand calls it "The consent of the victim.").

HIGHLIGHTING: Part of the Hegelian Principle point 2: Find every story, anywhere, to promote your position, and plant it in the media daily. If you can't "find" any, make one up or twist something real to your needs.

HYSTERICS AS GOVERNMENT: Whipping people into a frenzy to get them to give you permission to rip them off. (See Hegelian Principle points 1 and 2.)

INCENTIVE: A necessary ingredient in the production of new wealth (profit). It is noticeably absent in a collective (forced altruist) society because when you take the profit away from the producer, he soon ceases to produce. And why should he continue to supply the "needs" of the parasites on society who say he owes them a gift of part of his earnings because they "need it?"

INDIVIDUALIST: The antithesis (opposite) of the collectivist in that he (she) insists that he has the right to exist for his own sake and provide for himself. To earn the fruits of that production for himself and keep it unless he/she makes the decision to help someone. He does not accept the forced altruist's contention that he owes something to the collective because he is a producer of profit (new wealth).

LIBERAL: These are good people who have been conned into believing in the unworkable premise of forced altruism. (See Altruists, Liberal Elite, Looter, moocher.)

LIBERAL ELITE: People who have consistently promoted the unworkable premise of forced altruism (collectivism), usually being fully aware of its faulty nature, but who continue because this is what allows them to control what others may do. (See The Anointed, Power Seekers)

LIBERALISM FULLY FUNDED: Probably the best illustration is Washington, D. C. in the 90s and beyond. It's in debt up to its ears, reelected a felon as mayor and its grafters sometimes manage to steal more than the Federal Government itself. Its infrastructure is in a mess and getting worse. Its murder rate is the highest in the nation while having some of the toughest gun laws. New Orleans is another example. They should, according to their lights, be a "perfect society," with no poverty, no race problems, and plenty of money for everybody, as well as NO unemployment, etc. But the hurricane showed graphically that is not true.

LOOTERS: Looters are those in government who tax the earnings of those who can produce new wealth through their ideas and their work, for the benefit of those who don't (moochers), seeing "need" as a "demand" on those earnings. (See: Forced Altruists, Liberal Elite, Parasites, Moochers, Socialists, Communists, Serial Power-Grabbers, Power Seekers, etc.)

MOOCHER: These are the people who think those who work and earn a living, those who produce new profit, somehow owe them something and need to "pay back" to society. Nobody needs to "pay back" to society unless it is their idea. This is a sub-category under "looter," with the main difference being that the moocher just waits for the looter to give him what he needs, in return for his vote to keep the looter in power. The looter is the one who actually steals it from the producer.

OBJECTIVISM: The "essence" of the Objectivist philosophy is this: "(It) is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." (Ayn Rand, from her masterwork, "Atlas Shrugged") In other words, an individual, working for him/herself, and not demanding gifts from others because of his/her "need," nor recognizing the need of others as a demand on his/her earnings.

PARASITES: One who lives by his/her ability to convince "producers" to support them because their "need" is a "demand" on their earnings. (See Looters, Moochers, Power Seekers, and all sub-categories.)

POWER-SEEKERS: These are the people who become looters, and steal the earnings of producers for the benefit of moochers, to gain the vote of those moochers to keep them in political office so as to keep the "goodies" coming. (See: "Serial Power Grabbers, looters.")

PRODUCERS: Those who know, at some level, that they cannot consume more, in their lifetime, than they produce, and through their productivity produce new wealth (profit) for themselves and others as an "exchange of values."

PROFIT: A profit is made whenever new wealth is created and both parties to a transaction benefit.

PROFIT, FAUX: "Faux profit" is made whenever only one party to a transaction benefits, such as when a bureaucrat sells a permit (he should have no right to sell) to someone either through law, or as graft. (All graft is "faux profit.")

PROTECTIVE STUPIDITY: In his classic book, "1984," George Orwell described what the "Thought Police" called "Crimestop." "Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, (English Socialism, or in our case, simple socialism) and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity." It strikes me that today's liberal dupes are practicing Crimestop.

PROBLEM: As used by the looters, it is a device they create as a means to condition people to allow them to usurp more rights as a means of solving the problem they created. (See: "Hegelian Principle" Step.1, and program)

PROGRAM OR PLAN: As used by power seekers, the words "program" or "plan" are interchangeable and mean yet another way to separate you from your money and your right to make your own decisions in life.

PULL PEDDLERS: These are the inevitable gangsters who take advantage of the looters' system and become rich by selling "pull," or influence. The pull peddler is the result when people are forced to get permission from faceless bureaucrats to be able to use their own property, or to do something that should be their right.

REASON: "Man's only means of knowledge and his only standard of truth. It is the faculty that perceives, identifies, and integrates the material provided by his senses." (Ayn Rand)

RIGHTS: Rights are those things to which you are entitled by right of birth, which do not have to be involuntarily supplied by others. It's not a right if, to give it to you, it must first be forcibly taken from someone else. There are certain rights to which each of us is entitled by right of birth, whether or not God is the source -- and they don't have to be "granted" by a government to be ours, though governments routinely take them away as they loot us.

SERIAL POWER-GRABBERS: These are the people whose only reason for living is to have power over others and who work diligently all their lives to attain it. They're mostly found in government service, but can also be found in private bureaucracies. (See: Bureaucrat, Looter, Elite Liberal, The Anointed, Power Seeker, Forced Altruist, Parasites, Socialists, Communists, Collectivists)

SOCIALISM: An invented philosophy that promotes the spread of forced altruism, in which you are not allowed to live for your own purposes, but must live for the betterment of others. Unfortunately, those others don't seem to want to live for your betterment. For them, taking is better than giving, from producers, at least. (See Collectivism, Forced Altruism, Communism, Fascism, and other "isms.")

SUBJECTIVISM: This is a philosophy which, through its denial of the existence of "absolutes," seeks to absolve the practitioner of all responsibility for his or her actions and allows subjectivist bureaucrats (a redundancy, that) to make laws and regulations that they are able to "interpret" in whatever way they wish so they can "get" you any time they want you.. Unfortunately for them, their basic premise: "there are no absolutes," is a "statement of an absolute," and itself negates their philosophy.

TANSTAAFL: "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." (Robert Heinlein in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress") Meaning: if you get it for free, there's still a price you must pay, somewhere. It may not be obvious, but it's there.

TRUE BELIEVERS: Those who know the truth about altruism and collectivism, but who work hard every day to convince people to be believers. These people are the "evil" in the world. (See The Anointed, Liberal Elite, Looters, Power Seekers)

TRULY NEEDY: Those who, through no fault of their own, honestly need help. This includes crippled people, people who have become ill, the mentally ill and others who just cannot take care of themselves. These are the people we can make our own decisions about helping, and many of us do. Americans are the most "giving" of anybody in the world.

TRUTH: The recognition of reality.

WELFARE LEECHES: The people who abuse the system that (we thought) was set up for the truly needy. Many do need help, but only because of their own bad choices (drug and alcohol abuse, etc.) In pandering to their needs, the looters steal money better spent helping the truly needy. (See moochers)

If you can think of any words that should be added to this list, please let me know.

TANSTAAFL, I don't want to be pedantic, but I think this means that there's a price sombody else must pay, usually the tax payer

[C. Jordan]

What I'd posted here earlier was not entirely to the point of this post. It has been transferred.

My second attempt to write a more pertinent answer grew into its own post.

That is all.

Edited October 25, 2007 by C. Jordan

[C. Jordan]

What follows is now a more-or-less immediately-relevant contribution to the discussion.

Before I begin, I take the philosophical position that words have no objective meaning; but there is a consistent convention on how we use words to communicate meanings. English is entirely arbitrary, and so is every other human language. Therefore, while Ayn Rand appeared to treat dictionaries as authorities, I treat them as maps and then go with my own experience in using language. I take into account how people use the words and then work on thinking about consistent definitions.

My qualifications? 38 years and counting of practice.

PATRIOTISM versus CHAUVINISM: All chauvinists are patriots, but not all patriots are chauvinists. A patriot says: "Mine is a great country." A chauvinist also says: "And you country stinks, because it isn't mine."

OBSESSION versus COMPULSION: The first is a repetitive thought, the second a repetitive behaviour.

COMMON SENSE: A debatable definition. Ayn Rand's definition was "all those parts of conventional wisdom that also stand to reason." (1) I disagree. In my experience, when people say "common sense," they mean "conventional wisdom which is presumed to be sensible." Then my approach is to ask whether this particular bit of "common sense" also "stands to reason" or not. Ayn Rand's definition is perfectly sensible and reasonable. But I don't choose to keep butting my heads against practically everyone who doesn't understand the distinction.

PHILOSOPHY versus PHILOSOPHOLOGY: The first is original thinking and contributions to philosophy, and the second word (a coinage by Robert M. Pirsig) is a defintion for what is called "philosophy" at liberal American universities: learning about philosophers and their philosophies rather than learning how to originate and apply philosophy one's self. Pirsig wrote that philosophology is to philosophy what literary criticism is to creative writing. If you've taken philosophy courses, I think you will understand the basic point here.

UNINTERESTED versus DISINTERESTED: The first means "I don't give a damn," and the second means "I can fairly judge this matter."

DISCRIMINATION: In the deepest sense, it means to distinguish. If I say that blue is different from orange, I have discriminated. If I say that north is different from south, that is literally discriminating the distances. But in practice people often take the word to mean "unfair discrimination on a racist basis". That poisons the word for the rest of us.

ETHNOCENTRALISM: In definition, it means "to assume that one's own cultural manners are superior" and in connotation it implies bullying and abusive behaviour towards people from other cultures. In practice, people who use that term almost always apply it to THEIR OWN CULTURE. This explains why Americans who embrace "multiculturalism" criticise their own country so violently, yet ignore the same kind of behaviour they criticise being practiced in non-Western countries. This explains how some people refuse to admit that the black man can be as much a racist as the white man, or for that matter, anyone else on Earth.

BIAS: In definition this means "a preconception". A preconception may be true or false. I may allow my preconceptions to blind me to the truth, to lead me to distort...or I can admit my bias and look at the facts. Perhaps I might change my mind based on what I learn today. In practice, in the American political culture a "bias" is what people of the opposite political side from mine have. People who say this are usually implying their opponents are liars without the courage of saying so. They also imply that they don't have a bias, without the gall of saying so.

MULTICULTURALISM: A word with many possible definitions. I could use it to refer to Africa as in "a place with a large number of different cultural groups". In the better principle, the idea is that people of different cultural backgrounds can come to be friends (and in my ideal, these friends would form a new culture with none of the flaws from the previous cultural backgrounds). However, the word is often used by people as a synonym for "cultural relativism," whose definition is:

CULTURAL RELATIVISM: The idea that all cultures are equal. If the idea were that "all cultures have some potential value" I would agree. But the idea of cultural relativism as precisely definied, is contradictory. Find any proponent of the theory, and ask him/her: "And what about the Afrikaner culture?"

Or: "The Karimijong people of Uganda believe that all cattle belong to them. The X!hosa people of South Africa herd cattle. Suppose a Karimijong man with no cows meets a X!hosa man with a herd. Two cultures are coming into conflict. Which one do you support?"

More are available if anyone wishes to read them.

(I modified this post to make one of my points clearer)

(1) This is not an exact quotation, but it is a fair paraphrase. See The Romantic Manifesto for her exact words.

Edited November 3, 2007 by C. Jordan

[C. Jordan]

More words of debatable meaning.

BARBARIAN: Originally it meant "someone who doesn't speak our language," which would make everyone on Earth a barbarian in the opinion of everyone else whose language one does not speak. George Bernard Shaw gave the best definition, in that a barbarian is the person who mistakes "the customs of his tribe for the laws of nature." And by that definition, there are barbarians in every tribe on Earth, including our own.

BARBARIC: Here I'm staying closer to conventional usage, and describing actions such as deliberate slaughter of people not fighting, child abuse, degradation of women, and torture as "barbaric." This way I can agree with South African writer Rian Malan, when he said that the white people in his country were barbaric, and so were many black people.

DELUSION vs ILLUSION vs HALLUCINATION: The first and last involve the unreal. A delusion is an idea that I hold even though it can be proven false. An hallucination is something I see and/or hear which can be proven false. But to distinguish "illusion" I focus on a mirage in the desert: no, there is no water there over the next dune, but you and I can both see what appears to be water. So, even though the mirage is not real (as it appears) there is a reality to it. We know this because we can both see it. We can also reason out the cause (heat waves). So I think the best way to say it is that an illusion "is of false appearance, but based on something real" and an hallucination is all in the mind of the hallucinator.

CONTRADICTION vs PARADOX: Ayn Rand wrote that a contradiction, by definition, does not exist. The so-called "paradox" of what would happen when an irresistible force meets an immovable object is in fact a contradiction. If the force is in fact irresistible, then there are by definition no immovable objects, and vice-versa. By contrast a paradox only APPEARS contradictory. A paradox means we have 2 apparently contradictory facts, yet we can observe that both facts are so. A paradox implies that the (apparent) contradiction has a resolution, and a paradox challenges us to find the answer. But how do we tell a paradox from a contradiction in practice? We must ask for proof. If I give you 2 apparently contradictory statements, I must show you how they are both independently also true. I cannot expect you to just take my word for it. And failing proof, you may safely assume that I have brought you a contradiction, which cannot exist in reality. A contradiction can only exist in someone's say-so.