LexiCONartists and IdeolOgres

Bush mentioned the words 'Freedom' and 'Liberty' almost 50 times during his inauguration speech. Just in case your sharp eyes haven't pierced through the empty rhetoric and you're left wondering how someone so horrible can seem, at face value, to value the same things as the rest of us, let me point something out. Neither liberals, libertarians, or anarchists have a copyright on the words in question. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

True or False: Fascists and Communists don't value freedom.

FALSE. Every single ideology has their own definition of words such as equality, justice, freedom, etc. Of course these definitions may directly contradict the next ideology's, but that's just how the game works. It's just like 'good' and 'evil', I hope we've all learned by now the folly of using such words without due caution. It's not the labels and the lexicon that define an ideology, it's the SUBSTANCE. The meaning behind it all. Some people see everyone as being equal because even the weakest person can kill the strongest person, thus we must all be equal. There's some intersting definintions out there. This is why political speeches are so often completely void of any content, because they jsut throw out these words that we all value and they reel us in, without us ever questioning the interpretations and connotations that the politician has in mind. I listened to a speech of Paul Martin's in person (well actually I wasn't rich enough to be invited, so I eaves-dropped (sp?). Now he used the exact same words that his opponents were using, except he didn't go into any detail whatsoever. He'd throw out a few key words, pat himself on the back and wait for the applause. Apparently the mindless, blithering generalities of it all still managed to captivate the upper-class audience. Next time you hear someone ranting and raving without talking specifics, stop them right in their tracks. "What KIND of freedom, buddy? Justice according to WHO?". We can all scream our faces and, by putting quantity over quality, manage to integrate all sorts of ideas, but what's the point? Of course, this extends (as do most things) to all aspects of life. Ask someone if they believe in life after death and will their answer tell you anything at all? Reincarnation, returning to the earth, heaven, etc. If you're gonna talk politics, religion, or fuck, ANYTHING, you gotta dig deeper than the level of the cliches and stereotypes.