Monday, August 22, 2011

What's another word for thesaurus?

Mark Twain once said "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."

I was reading this post by Jeff Miller about the inherent conflicts of parents using IVF. Several interesting posts have been generated by the New York Times article on "half abortions." I know, there's a lot of links there, but they are all worth the read.

But since I've been reading "Dehumanizing the Vulnerable" I've noticed something. The culture of death is gradually dehumanizing unborn children (even more than they already have) by controlling the language we use to talk about them. Even staunch pro-lifers are bullied, by a desire to appear to be "accurate" and "factual" to pro-aborts, into using medical terms like:
  • Zygote noun \ˈzī-ˌgōt\ : a cell formed by the union of two gametes; broadly : the developing individual produced from such a cell
  • Embryo noun \ˈem-brē-ˌō\
    1. archaic : a vertebrate at any stage of development prior to birth or hatching
    2. : an animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are characterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems; especially : the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception
  • Fetus noun \ˈfē-təs\ : an unborn or unhatched vertebrate especially after attaining the basic structural plan of its kind; specifically : a developing human from usually two months after conception to birth
These are terms which, while scientifically accurate, server to obfuscate the humanity of the unborn. I propose we should start calling these people what they are - our children.

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