The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak
George Orwell, “1984”
I’ve long been a proponent of the efficacy and safety of vaccines. I have my “shots” regularly, including the annual flu vax. I’ve long disdained, and occasionally, futilely, argued with anti-vaxxers. Mercury, autism, microchips: I’ve heard it all and argued against it.
So, I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when I just found out that I’m now officially an anti-vaxxer.
Of course, I haven’t changed my mind in the least about vaccines. No, what’s happened is that, as they always do, when the left are losing an argument, they just change the meanings of words.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary apparently stealth-edited its definition of the term “anti-vaxxer” to now include people who are opposed to forced vaccinations, and presumably the coronavirus vaccine, in particular.
Now, as much as I cordially dislike anti-vaxxers, I’ve always staunchly defended their right not to be vaccinated. Forcing someone to undergo a medical procedure is the sort of horror-story stuff I’ve always been taught to associate with Mengele and pals. In fact, the international convention against forced medical experiments that resulted from such horrors, the Nuremberg Code, has been generally incorporated into informed consent regulations. In Australia, under the common law, “all competent adults can consent to and refuse medical treatment”.
Not any more, it seems.
One of the world’s most influential dictionaries updated its definition of “anti-vaxxer” to read: “a person who opposes vaccination or laws that mandate vaccination.”
[…] with a few keystrokes, Merriam-Webster’s page on the anti-vaxxer is now implying that people who approve of the wonders of vaccines and medical science, but don’t want their neighbours forced to take shots under the threat their liberties will be taken away from them, are quacks in need of reprogramming.
Merriam-Webster is now gaslighting people with valid questions about the COVID vaccine by connecting them with a small segment of the population that holds views about inoculations that are not widespread.
The term “anti-vaxxer” carries with it very negative connotations, and the folks running Merriam-Webster know that. They have now classified millions of pro-vaccine and pro-medical choice Americans as being kooks.
It seems that, like too many other people these days, the compilers at Merriam-Webster have mistaken 1984 for an instruction manual.
You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying words..It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.
George Orwell, “1984”
This bit of lexicological deceit is yet another instance of the left weaponising dictionaries to fight their culture wars. Not only are many pro-vaccination people adamantly against forcing them on the unwilling, many are, rightly or not, hesitant about taking the COVID vaccine – developed with astonishing haste and implicated in a raft of complications, however rare those may be.
But, if that is so, then the authoritarians peddling their mendacious Newspeak have only themselves to blame.
The federal government continues its campaign to convince people to take a vaccine that, aside from its reported efficacy, comes with arguably no additional benefit. People like the vaccinated Dr. Anthony Fauci tell us that these vaccines are safe and necessary, but every time we see him, he’s advocating for forever masks and implying that one’s vaccine status is potential leverage over the unwashed masses and their rights to medical choice[…]
The Biden administration’s mixed messaging on masks and vaccines has likely contributed greatly to vaccine hesitancy, with a reported one-third of Americans now saying they do not want the shot and won’t take it, according to polling from The Associated Press.
Look at these silly people.
Joe Biden dodders around in a mask, even when he’s on a Zoom call, despite the fact that he’s fully vaccinated. VP Kamala Harris and her husband kissed while still wearing masks outside, yet both are fully vaccinated. Fauci tells people to wear a mask at all times outdoors – despite that we now know for a fact that the risk of transmission of the virus outdoors is incredibly low – even if they’re vaccinated. In fact, Fauci hints, we may have to wear masks forever on.
These are people who are telling Americans that the vaccine is safe and effective, yet they continue parading around in masks while also telling those who are vaccinated to avoid friends and other loved ones — even post-inoculation.
The coronavirus vaccine is being pushed by people who are not trustworthy. Who could blame anyone for not wanting to take the shot[…?]
Western Journal
When the messages from politicians and medical panjandrums are so ludicrously mixed, why would anyone listen to them?
And when dictionaries so blatantly lie in the service of authoritarians, why would anyone read them?
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