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When words mean anything, they mean nothing(ness)

johnnypapa

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While Pope Leo’s address to the diplomatic corps occurred a few days before the SCOTUS argument and Senate hearing, it is a correction of both.

“Today, the meaning of words is ever more fluid and the concepts they represent are increasingly ambiguous,” the Pope observes. In the “contortions of semantic ambiguity, language is becoming more and more a weapon with which to deceive, or to strike and offend opponents.” This is not a mere academic problem. Rather, it has profound practical implications about the way we view the world, and how we live peaceably together. “When words lose their connection to reality,” Pope Leo continues, “reality itself becomes debatable and ultimately incommunicable.”

 

Chesster

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Reminds me of "Through the Looking Glass":

“And only one for birthday presents, you know. There’s glory for you!”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument,’” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
 
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