Sunday, August 19, 2012

What Words Mean, and Why You Should Take Care in Their Use



(note:  all meanings taken from the Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, American Edition)
Bigot (n) – obstinate and intolerant believer in a religion, political theory, etc.
Bigoted (adj) – unreasonably prejudiced and intolerant; narrow-minded, uncompromising inflexible, rigid, set, dogmatic…
I see a lot of heated discussion on the social changes taking place in our country today.  Inevitably the word bigot gets thrown into the mix, usually from the progressive side, when the views of a conservative or a person of deep faith offers an opposing view.  My question is a simple one, doesn’t the fact that you are compelled to call someone a bigot reflect directly back on your own prejudice, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness?  Doesn’t the insistence that your views are superior to the opposition and you are unwilling to accept the right for another view place you in exactly the same category as those you accuse?

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