refugee, IDP, evacuee

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:35 AM -0500 9/7/05, Sally O. Donlon wrote:
>I hear you, Jonathan.
>
>But, you're taking on an established and very effective propaganda
>machine with a long and robust history. Marx thought that controlling
>the presses was the answer; I think that control of the vernacular
>matters much more. (For instance, just who's "right to life" is at
>stake anyway? What makes it morally OK to harvest organs of a person
>who's biological functions have diminished to a level somewhat higher
>than a first-term fetus, but murder to terminate that fetus?)
>
>The real "word cranks" are no joke. They're smart and manipulative, and
>they operate from a very real agenda.
>
I agree in general, Sally, but given that the "agenda" and
"propaganda machine" in this case is evidently one to which both
George W. Bush and Jesse Jackson subscribe, I wonder whether it
really makes sense in this specific case.  I can't think of too many
other issues on which their views would coincide, although no doubt
one of them would be to dismiss "ebonics" as ignorant, debased slang.
Nice to see that know-nothingism about language can unite these
leading American figures in the service of a noble cause.

larry