We have sat by and watched the past three months or so unfold in front of our eyes. We watched as our rights were stripped away, our cities were lit on fire and the looting commenced. To some of us, it all seems like a surrealistic nightmare unfolding before us.

Awhile back, I reviewed a book for the VG Bookshelf entitled “Mama Bear Apologetics“. As a mom to a teenager, this is a title I refer back to often. Within the pages, comes a topic referred to as Linguistic Theft. The concept of using language and even cannibalizing it for political gain or advantage. Linguistic Theft does the following:

1. Stops the discussion in its tracks.
2. Compels people to act without thinking through the issues.
3. Blurs the details.
4. Vilifies the opposing viewpoint.
5. Turns a negative into a positive.”-Mama Bear Apologetics, Hillary Morgan Ferrer

If we look hard at all five of these concepts, we can see how all of these have played out over the past few months. All of these have caused breakdowns in friendships, conversations and in the way we become informed about the issues at hand. Let’s go on a little journey through this maze as we take a look at Number one, Stopping A Discussion in its Tracks.

We’ve all heard, “a mask is an act of love”. Or one of our personal favorites, “if you don’t wear a mask, you’re going to kill grandma”. A mask has been a sign of virtue, a sign of being morally and intellectually superior to the non-mask-wearing minions. In the most recent weeks, we heard things like, “if you don’t atone for your white privilege, you are part of the problem”, if you say, “All lives Matter” instead of “Black Lives Matter“, you’re racist”, if you’re not out on a corner with a peaceful protest sign reciting platitudes, you’re “complicit”. See how that works?

These are all classic tactics of discussion stoppers. How do you say you’re not loving or you want to kill grandma? Go out in public without a mask! How can you say you are not racist if you are gainfully employed and living comfortably? How dare you call the police if anyone enters your home with the intent of malice! If you say “All people matter”, you are perpetuating the problem. And don’t even talk about putting your money where your mouth is and contributing some of your salary from the job you are privileged to have to communities that have fallen victim to riots and looting. Because white people holding cardboard signs (donning masks, of course..because…it’s an act of love) and kneeling in the safety of all of their white, upper middle-class, suburban communities is the solution to this problem. Anything else is just fluff. Anything else will get you silenced, ignored and thought of as persona-non-grata.

We move on to Number Two…Compelling People to Act without Thinking Through the Issues-which is a direct result of Number One, Stopping the Discussion in its Tracks. Protestors are drowned out by rioters and noise. A “peaceful protest” to show love and solidarity in a community now spreads more disease (COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing suddenly do not mean a thing anymore). Crowding together as a group of “privileged” individuals who have the economic means to obtain healthcare should they get sick, who have the means to recover from a financial setback, in a neighborhood where marginalized individuals may not be as lucky and fortunate defeats the purpose of the issue, don’t you think? I saw this the other day and scratched my head:

Put more effort into learning how to be anti-racist than you put into convincing others that you are non-racist.”

Does that include white people organizing protests in the streets? Does that include mask-wearing, virtue-signaling, sign wavers? Does this include culturally appropriating when we’re not supposed to be appropriating? Just wondering. See the below, because of tolerance. (Language NSFW):

Another way the left is using linguistic theft as a means of looting language comes from deep within the Black Lives Matter page and brings us to Number Three, Blurring the Details.

Of course, Black Lives Matter. Of course, any compassionate human being, regardless of race, in America, wants a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive. But does every American want the below?

We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.-Black Lives Matter

Or this?

Every day, we recommit to healing ourselves and each other, and to co-creating alongside comrades, allies, and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard, and supported.-Black Lives Matter

Think about it. Disrupting the family structure. BLM did not use the verbiage “acknowledging” there may not be a “nuclear family” in every situation. BLM wants to disrupt the construct of the family. Not encourage. Not nurture. Disrupt. BLM also did not did not use the term, “associates” or “friends”, BLM chose to use “comrades“. These details have been blurred and I guarantee some individuals who signed up and contributed to this cause alone did not read the fine print. Which, brings up to Number 4-Vilifying the Opposing Viewpoint.

The causes and the social media warriors in support of these causes are not only rioting and looting, they are turning individuals who have even the slightest opposing viewpoint into villains. They are gutting these viewpoints and pitting one against the other. Don’t dare #BackTheBlue in a time when we should #DefundThePolice. Eff the police, they say.

Which brings us to Number Five, Turning a Negative into a Positive. COVID-19 and the death of George Floyd have been great, big negatives in 2020. Coronavirus deaths turned into a stay-at-home order nationwide that had our economy in a downward spiral. But we were all “in it together”, so officials said, so celebrities said, so COVID-mercials said. And some turned to looking to the government for solutions, our economic security and programs to bail us out as a nation. This dependency, apparently, was a great idea for some. Economic turmoil thrown in with protests, riots, utter destruction and a move to rid cities of any form of law and order has all of a sudden become a positive? It begs the question-are we in an alternate universe?

This looting of language, the sheer cannibalization of it, is causing free thought and intellectual debate and discourse to fall by the wayside. It has decent, hard-working and thoughtful people second-guessing themselves and falling victim to a sham and making irrational decisions and judgements. It is tearing relationships apart and leaving us vulnerable. Don’t even think for a moment the perpetrators of this and our adversaries are not eating this $hitshow up. The looting of language takes away all individuality and discernment and it is dangerous. Don’t believe me? Take a good look around.

Photo Credit: FlickR/Creative Commons/Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)/Cropped