I have been thinking about making a list of the most corrupt words of our language that most easily can be deployed to support this or that ideology (i.e. a vision of nature, or of the world, as a conceptual foundation of one or another vision of society).
For now, I’ll just jot down a few, as they come to mind. Will sort them alphabetically and flesh them out a bit later on when I’m well drunk again and in the mood.
So, just like one should be very cautious when driving on a mountain road in winter (have you tried Hardknott Pass in January? Don’t. Just don’t. The bloody thing is so steep that the car will start sliding backwards on the icy surface!), so one should exert extra caution when any of the words listed below is used in any statement or question (genuine exclamations are fine: it’s personal and as involuntary as a baby’s burp. They usually do, however, provide a glimpse into that person’s world).
So, whenever someone is sharing a great and elevated truth about whatever and you hear one of the words below, tread carefully:
- Nature
- World
- True/false
- Good/bad
- Reality
- Progress
- History
- Past
- Society
- Civilisation
- Nation
- People
- Right/wrong
- Intelligence
- Spirit/soul
- Essence
- Mind
- Evolution
- Modernity
- Obvious
- Universal
- Freedom
- Humanity
- Purity
- Fact