The Joy of Ron Paul's 'Liberty Defined'..

[Patriot]

Patriot I dont limit my meaning of a word to the somewhat dubious ones used for POLITICAL propaganda.

  Being a progressive thinker has nothing to do with politics in my mind and I am fully aware of the word-bending used by BOTH sides of the POLITICAL spectrum to justify their use of them.


Uh .......perhaps thats exactly what I have been saying to you all for months. Me and several OTHER people who have been tarred with the same brush.  I make independent judgments in MOST areas LOL

Words matter,  Pam.  When 2 or more people are trying to communicate, it's critical that both or all are assigning the same meaning to the words used.  It's not very effective to assume the words you choose to use carry the same contextual meaning for everyone.  Clarify, clarify, clarify.  I would think that in a politically oriented conversation that anyone using or seeing a term like progressive could  reasonably expect it to be assigned the political meaning... and perhaps even be tarred (given the charged meanings of many political terms). 

If one is in a room full of fruits and nuts who are talking about nutty stuff and the fruits start using nut terms to describe peach seeds then the nuts are likely going to misunderstand.  Words & context matter greatly, especially when the audience is very diverse in their location, background, age and cultural experience.  To a 25 year old in New York bar a goober is not always the same thing as a goober at a Georgia church social full of 70 year olds.

Thanks for finally expressing your meaning and use, it makes all the difference in the world.