Tyranny is the exercise of an oppressive power. Most often, the oppressive power is exerted by the government. Whether you live on the left or the right or fancy yourself in the middle, tyranny is a bad thing. Don’t people who believe in the principles and values of America naturally recoil from tyranny?
We have reached a very dangerous place: Illinois. The State may no longer have criminals or offenders. The legislature there is moving to rename criminals as “justice-impacted individuals.”
Let’s be clear: criminals are nearly always anti-social people. They all have been convicted of anti-social action, most usually more than one. The words criminal and offender are stigmatizing because they describe individuals who have acted so anti-socially as to have been forcibly removed from society.
Maybe they are a thief, murderer, rapist, drug dealer, pedophile, etc.… Whatever the offense they committed, it violated laws society made which required their isolation from society. They prey on the rest of us. It is always judicious to exercise caution near criminals. Naming them allows that.
We want to thank Marc Abear for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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Understand there is no recategorization here. It is not that the criminals did not commit the crimes for which they were convicted. It is not that their crimes are improperly described. This is an attempt to legislate how we are allowed to describe reality.
Those proposing to control your speech through legal means are telling you that debate will no longer be tolerated. You no longer may speak freely. The government will tell what is true.
Legislating required terms in our language is tyranny. Criminals may be justice-impacted individuals, but why should describing them as what they are be illegal? What is the reason we want to make criminals of those calling criminals criminals? How many lights do you see?
