MAGA Words #1
Words that are co-opted, censored, and misinterpreted by MAGA, and why it matters.
This is the first in my series on the state of words up to and including books, and how and why they are co-opted, misinterpreted, and censored by MAGA on a daily basis. Then, we’ll talk about ways to regain control and ownership of those words again. To begin, let’s look at what I mean when I say a word or larger work has been co-opted, misinterpreted, or censored.
Let’s take the word ‘Patriot’, for example. The Webster’s dictionary gives the following definition for the word:
Patriot (noun) : one who loves and supports his or her country
Seems pretty straightforward, right? However, in years gone by it was used both positively and negatively to describe supporters of, and opposition to a given monarchy. The word entered the English language from the French: patriote, meaning ‘fellow countryman’ or compatriot. After that it had many ups and downs, until finally arriving as a net negative by its association with seditious rebels against the British crown. This word, of course, was warmly embraced as something more than just allegiance or not to a king. Benjamin Franklin summed it up well:
It should be no Wonder … if among so many Thousand true Patriots as New England contains there should be found even Twelve Judases.
— Benjamin Franklin, letter, 7 July 1773
The irony of the twisted path this word took to get where it is today should not be lost on anyone. Yet, if you were to ask a thousand MAGA about the origin and meaning of this word, I doubt you would get more than twelve that could intelligently respond, to give a nod to Ben Franklin.
So, the word is both misinterpreted, and co-opted by MAGA. It is misinterpreted by Trump and others to describe seditious traitors who assaulted the Capital on January 6th, 2021. It is also misinterpreted to deny patriotism exists in various populations, such as LGBTQ+, Democrats, and anyone else they wish to demonize. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Like how King George used the word. A ‘true patriot’, in their mind, is a Trump loyalist, through and through. A false patriot is everyone else.
Simultaneously, they co-opted the word by wrapping themselves in the flag and self identifying as patriots, when nothing could be further from the truth. Their loyalty lays with Trump. How can you be a patriot if you don’t even understand what kind of government you have, or how it basically functions? Even more damning, how could you attack the institutions of that government in a failed coup attempt, and still consider yourself a patriot? Much like Trump’s internal narcissism, his followers respond to a cult of personality, rather than to real patriotism which calls for support and sacrifice to protect our Constitution and the institutions which compose it.
Now, censorship is the flip side of co-opting. Rather than bothering to appropriate and control the word for your own uses, you don’t want it to spread at all. The goal is destruction of a word, thought, idea, or whole books of ideas. More commonly this is applied to books rather than individual words. In the internet age, the new technologies used to amplify people’s voices have raised questions about the need to moderate - and thereby censor - misinformation. Deliberate misinterpretation or outright fabrication of falsehoods to confuse or mislead is more common than under previous technologies that limited access, and encouraged high levels of accuracy and trust coupled with that barrier to entry.
Today, the equivalent of the ravings of a madman, are given the same or maybe even more visibility than reasoned and accurate and well researched information, clouding everything. A well educated citizenry is required for democracy to work. When this is subverted, evil interests can manipulate the population to relinquish power as we saw with the 2024 election.
This is a complex topic, but valuable to explore because piecing the puzzle together will show us what those in favor of co-opting, misinformation, and censorship really want to accomplish beyond the fog of word salad we usually hear.
