'Racism' losing its meaning
The all important word "racism" is in danger of losing all meaning. Much like the boy who cried wolf, those in today's society who cry racism in the direction of anything they disapprove of are in danger of rendering the word meaningless. Words are always subjected to common usage and this word has no doubt been overused in our modern political culture. Sadly, the effect of the word "racism" losing all its meaning will only help true racists and hurt all their victims.
The American political left has decided to use the word "racist" to describe anyone who promotes secure borders, a process of assimilation for newly arrived immigrants and deportation for illegal immigrants. The left has even gone has far as charging racism to tea party protesters, who advocate limited government policies, conservatives who believe in American exceptionalism, and people who voted against Barack Obama.
Racism is real and to charge someone with being a racist should be a serious insult to a person's dignity and reputation. The fact that the word "racist" gets thrown around so often leaves real victims of racism ignored.
This commonality of the word also makes racism petty. This is morally wrong.
The American left needs to take a good long look at itself and realize the conditions it is creating. We as a people need to think about how important language is to providing moral clarity on very troublesome issues. Let's not kill the clarity of the word racism.
Christian Reynolds
Geneva