The hyphenated "But"

Just a quick comment on the state of linguistics as it relates to identity politics...

Usually, whenever a person (especially a politician) makes a statement of fact, or professes his or her support for a concept, they say something like the following:

"I support the right of Americans to own guns for sport and hunting, but I think reasonable regulation of xxxxx is necessary."

In an example such as the above, everything before the "but" was misdirection, or an attempt to garner sympathy before taking the action which is the actual goal. In the above case, the goal is restrictions on gun ownership.

In the arena of identity politics, where the Statist Left continues to divide us into interest groups to remove our common ground from us, the most obvious example of the "but" is the hyphen. To wit: African-American, Mexican-American, Italian-American, Gay-American, et cetera. In all cases, the desire of the moniker is to emphasize the part before the hyphen, thereby diminishing the part after.

If we are to survive as a nation, indeed if we are to reclaim our liberties as free citizens, we need to reject the labels, the hyphens, and the "buts" from our discourse. We need to call out anybody who uses these artifices to subtly divide us into factions.

We need to focus on the phrases after the "but", and reject the lies before it, in order to understand how we are being manipulated.

We need to reject the balkanization before the hyphens, and focus on the uniting fact that regardless of heritage or skin color or faith, we are all Americans.

Words matter. The artful turns of phrases being used to lull us into complacency regarding our rights and our future need to be exposed for what they are: the seductive opiates which enable our destruction. Reject them.

Pax,

Newbius