osan

Originally Posted by Louise

What I find particularly hypocritical is when "men" call women sluts. Jesus nurtured and forgave the prostitute in Scripture and condemned the "men" who condemned her.

That depends on how they use the term. "Slut" has a definition and a woman whose behavior satisfies the specifications may be rightly called that. It does not have to be mean or even judgmental. If a man murders another, is it "hypocritical" to call him a murderer?

Political correctness is an insidious evil that besets us on all sides. Language is the single greatest skill we ever learn, bar none. It is the means by which we know our world and by that very virtue it is paramount that we learn the skill well and develop only the finest habits of use because meaning can be very fleeting a thing in terms of correct perceptive apprehension. The slightest deviations from initial intended meaning from one person to the next has an additive effect that, given but a few hand-offs results in substantial alterations of meaning such that the original message is transmuted into error.

The proper and judicious use of language is also perhaps the single most difficult set of skills and habits we ever learn and make use. That we are able to communicate even the simplest notions between us is miraculous on its face. That we endeavor to do so with more subtle and complex expressions and concepts is truly daring and fraught with hazard upon hazard. Words have meanings and they have etymological roots. It behooves one to have always at hand an etymological dictionary such that one may study with some closeness and precision the meanings of words such that they are better able to formulate and understand verbal communication.

Equally importantly, one must dispense with fear and loathing in the use of words such as you have expressed here, labeling men who assess some women as "sluts" as hypocrites in blanket fashion. No doubt some of those men are just that, but are they all? Is the use of "slut" always wrong? Is the very concept that "slut" enshrines somehow invalid? I doubt it that it is the case in the minds of the circumspect.

What I warn all against is the lure of political correctness for it embodies the mental habits of the simpleton whose every demand and desire is for simplistic, formulaic, and ever so definite and clear-cut answers to the many questions that arise in the course of one's life whose natures are subtle and complex, be they pleasant or vexatious in variety and character.

The strong and disciplined mind is not the product so much of inheritance as of the will that it be so and the constant practice that is necessary to the condition. Strong minds are made, not hatched from eggs. Strength and power of mind is achieved as much by determination as by natural gift and even those less abundantly endowed with natural ability may yet develop great faculty when the desire, drive, and discipline to do so is taken up and held to faithfully.

Rash and precipitous judgment is an easy thing to take up. Calm, cool, deliberate, complete, and precise assessment requires far greater skill, patience, and the deliberate will to generosity of spirit that guides one by the compass of justice for one and all regardless of how despicable a given person may appear on the surface, for it may be found in cases that appearances are truly, profoundly, and terribly deceiving. Let those who merit strong judgments be so judged if it is sensible, but let not the innocent be made subject to unjust and harsh visitation for that is the perfect antithesis of everything for which human liberty and moral decency stands.