If one were to observe the left wing weaponisation of language over the years, it would be difficult not to marvel at what they have managed to achieve.
Any mild conservative is termed a “right winger”, any contrarian view is called “trolling” and anyone retorting in a sensible, reasonable, might I even say intelligent manner risks being called a “bigot”. Such is the weaponisation of terminology the left has learnt to employ over the decades.
Yesterday, the author of this article happened to be on twitter and came across two instances which highlighted these points. A twitter user politely questioned the timing of a certain famous twitter user deactivating his/her account – was it due to the questions being raised around what happened to funds that were being collected for victims of a heinous crime? This simple question, asked in the most polite manner – was termed as “trolling” by a “blue tick twitter celebrity”.
The second instance involves the author. A left wing “journalist” was ranting that only Amnesty International and ‘sickulars’ were defending Abhijit Iyer.
The author merely highlighted how this simply was not true as there were well known right leaning conservatives too who took up this issue and defended Abhijit and that it was not just the pseudo secular lobby that was raising the voice. Here’s the text of the tweet:
“Its not only the pseudo secular lobby that’s out supporting Abhijit. Your support seems questionable to be honest.”
This incurred the wrath of the journalist – where she proceeded to slander not only Abhijit Iyer but also the author whom she doesn’t even know. Her response:
“Pseudo seculars still give support- questionable and otherwise- on matters of principle. Bigots like Abhijit and yourself would have been cheering the arrest of liberal instead. That’s the difference between decent people and bigots!”
The author takes objection to being called a bigot with zero basis to back up such a slanderous claim. Upon asking the “journalist” to show how the author was being a “bigot”, no response was given and as often happens when no response can be given – the author was blocked by the “journalist”.
The left keeps going on and on about how FOE (Freedom of Expression) is curtailed, well here we see an example of what some in the left think of diverse views.
This is an example of a bigger issue-the weaponisation of language as mentioned at the beginning. Words have lost meaning and have become obscure. The left is very good at silencing their opponents by throwing wild terminologies and baseless allegations at them – and sadly often they succeed in silencing contrary opinions that does not conform to their worldview.
One should always keep this in mind when on social media and when such behaviour is to be encountered – counter with facts, raise your voice and take care of the language being used. For the love of all that is holy, stop using the terms the left wing has invented to demonise the right and be mindful of the word games the left plays.