Loaded Language, From "Communist" to "Homophobe"

Commenting on loaded language is a tricky business, because you run the risk of being called the very things you’re talking about if and when you upset someone. Still, in seems to me that every era has particular terms that can be used by one side against the other to stop the public discussion and turn it ad homonym i.e., make what might otherwise be a legitimate airing of political views into nothing more than a vicious personal attack. For this commentary, I selected two terms that particularly interest me, communist and homophobe. I have to say at the start that this essay isn’t about political systems. Nor is it an endorsement of or a philippic against homosexuality either in the public square or anywhere else. It is, however, a brief look at these two words and their power to alter public perception and/or derail discussion. For much of the twentieth century, the quickest way to trash your political opponent and start fist fights in bars was to refer to the person as a communist. Other fashionable terms for a communist included red, used as a noun, pinko, commie fascist, and other such charming descriptors. From the first Red Scare, 1919 to 1921, to the much more widely remembered McCarthy era and beyond, dissenters were effectively silenced or ruined through the application of the sobriquet “communist.” In the early 1920’s, the media made a regular habit of portraying labor strikes and other attempts at collective bargaining as threats to the American way of life. If you were pro-union, you could count on being called a communist by someone at some point. The government also got into the act. In alleged crackdowns against militant anarchism, which really was a threat back then, the government arrested and deported quite a number of what it considered “undesirable” persons, applying the labels communist, seditionist or anarchist, for they meant just about the same thing, to them all. Here, though, I’m less concerned with what the government does than with what the average person or the average journalist, some of them being very average indeed, does. Consider this. Do you think southern segregation was wrong? Now, who’s going to answer no to that, right? As it happens, southern dixycrats of the 1950’s and 1960’s, in their fight against desegregation, argued vehemently that desegregation would irreparably harm the American way of life. Those who favored desegregation were often called, you guessed it, communists. Never mind that the desegregationist’s didn’t believe in the tenets of Marxism-Leninism at all and could prove it. Calling your opponents communists, whether pro-labor activists or desegregationist’s, was an effective means of framing them in public discourse as a threat to society. It shifted the discussion away from the pros or cons of the particular issue and turned the discussion to topics like national safety, the American way of life, etc. In so far as the individual so named was concerned, it effectively stopped the original discussion. The word homophobe strikes me as interesting, because even though its history is shorter than communist (Mariam-Webster traces the word homophobia only to 1969) it’s doing the same thing today. Regardless of your sexual preference or point of view, I think you’ll agree with me that gay rights is one of the hottest issues in the American public sphere today. With recent supreme court decisions about laws concerning marriage, states passing, banning and then unbanning laws against same sex marriage—hello, California,--I would be hard pressed to find another issue that is more before the notice of the American public than this one. That brings me to homophobe. Let me say up front that I’m aware of the radical right fringe. I know there are those who identify themselves as conservatives and who espouse nothing less than hatred or deep-seeded fear of homosexuals. There are, in short, genuine homophobes out there, just as there were those comparatively few who got called communists and who actually were. What concerns me now is those who are not homophobes, but who are being so labeled in liberal media, which is to say most media. I’m avoiding mentioning particular names for two reasons. First, I’m not interested in defending or criticizing any particular person or publication. I’m talking about the broad picture here, and people should be free to apply what I’m saying to whoever or whatever needs the application within reason. Second, the moment I drop a name, the discussion will turn from the merits of what I’m saying to a defense of or an attack on that person or publication. So for both reasons, I’m steering clear of names. What is a homophobe? The Free Mariam-Webster dictionary defines homophobia as, “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.” Fair enough. That definition brings to my mind the image of sign-waving radical chanting about how homosexuals are hell bound. I don’t have any tolerance for that sort of behavior and would agree with my liberal friends and colleagues in terming it homophobic. Having said that, if the term homophobe was being applied only to that sort of person, I wouldn’t be writing today. Alarmingly, I’m observing a tendency in a number of media outlets, particularly online media outlets, to use the word homophobe rather loosely, and it’s starting to have an effect. Pretty soon now, if you voice anything other than unqualified support of gay marriage legislation in your state, for example, you will be liable to a charge of homophobia. If you voice anything other than unqualified endorsements of homosexuality in your churches, you will be liable to a charge of homophobia. My question is this: are we coming to such a point in our discourse that no divergent views on homosexuality will be tolerated? Those on the left, whether they’re called liberals, progressives, whatever, have a reputation for promoting fairness, tolerance and diversity. I should know. Being blind, I can attest to the fact that I’ve been most successful in more liberal environments, and I’ve had the hardest time making my way in very conservative ones. That’s very ironic, considering my strong Christian values often align me with those in whose communities I find it hardest to live and work. So, I have nothing against an atmosphere of fairness, tolerance and diversity. However, what I’m seeing vis-à-vis the use of the word homophobe is a growing intolerance for those with whom the left disagrees. This is deeply ironic, because the left often styles itself as being open to divergent points of view. Yet, labeling someone a homophobe does not seem to be reminiscent of tolerance, fair-mindedness and diversity. So then the question becomes, are we as a society now going to tolerate only those who agree with us? Are we going to demonstrate fair-mindedness and openness just so long as the other person doesn’t disagree with our point of view? As I asked in a recent Facebook comment, can you disagree with anything having to do with homosexuality itself or homosexuality in the public sphere, no matter how the disagreement is voiced or what the disagreement may be, without being labeled a homophobe? I’m coming to the fearful conclusion that you almost can’t. In conclusion, if what I’m talking about sounds like public suppression of opinion, it is. And yet—and I know this won’t go down too well in some quarters—public suppression, which is to say societal suppression, of divergent opinion is part of the American way of life just as much as the first amendment and its guarantee of free speech. If you look at our history, you will find this truth played out both on the governmental and the personal level. The use of the term communist in our public discourse is one proof of that claim. Is the term homophobe starting to serve the same purpose in the public square? I’ve told you what I think. The question is what do you think?