Why must words mean whatever liberals want them to mean?

First the liberals changed the history of race relations and civil rights in this country.  Now they're changing the meaning of words.

When did we start changing the meaning of words that have been in use for perhaps hundreds of years to give them racial meanings?

Recently, Soledad O'Brien, who seems to be trying desperately to remain relevant since her show on CNN was canceled, appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources.  According to the Huffington Post, O'Brien said that "the word 'thug' has become the new N-word, and journalists need to think twice before using the term to describe protesters in Baltimore."  Protestors?  The people in Baltimore who injured 100 police officers and burned over 200 stores and countless cars were not by any stretch of the imagination "protestors."  A protestor is (according to the Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary) "someone who disagrees with something by standing somewhere, shouting, carrying signs, etc." 

The word "thug" derives from the archaic Indian word "Thugee."  According to the Oxford Dictionaries, a thug or thugee is "a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India. Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travelers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s."  Since then, also according to the Oxford Dictionaries, the term has come to mean "a violent person, especially a criminal."  Synonyms include ruffian, hooligan, vandal, hoodlum, gangster, villain, criminal, tough, bruiser, hood, and others.  It seems like a perfect word to describe the people who caused so much destruction in Baltimore.  O'Brien also made it sound as though no white person has ever been described as a thug.

Niggardly has also appeared recently as being seen as a racial slur.  According to Merriam-Webster, the first usage of the word was in 1571, long before the "N-word" was even imagined.  It's a good word and means "grudgingly mean about spending or granting."  Synonyms include cheap, chintzy, closefisted, mean, miserly, stingy, parsimonious, tightfisted, and others.  Not one racial reference in any of the dictionaries I searched.  I've used it and never given it a second thought, nor should anyone else.  

 

The focus on trying to find racism in every word uttered is simply a smokescreen to divert from the real problem facing our country.  At 70, I have never seen this country so racially divided, and it's getting worse.    

Baltimore has been governed by liberals for about 50 years, and each year their situation gets worse.  Their schools are spending as much per student as Loyola High School, one of the top-rated high schools in the country. Yet the calls continue for more funding for the school system.  Throwing money at a problem is the liberal way, but it's rarely the solution. 

A hard look needs to be taken into why these liberal policies are failing so abysmally, not into the false meaning of words.  Correcting the damage 50 years of liberal governance has done to the black family and community is much more important than any word.      

“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.”
—Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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