Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here is Ann Coulter's latest column. Permit me a few words of commentary: The word "racist" has lost—or is rapidly losing—all specific meaning. It is now—or is rapidly becoming—a generic (i.e., all-purpose) term of abuse or condemnation, like "scalawag," "rascal," "blackguard," and "cretin." To put it in philosophical terms, the word has prescriptive (emotive) meaning, but no longer any (or much) descriptive meaning. This is what happens when you apply a term far beyond its proper scope. The technical term for this phenomenon is "persuasive definition." The word "racist" has long had a negative emotive meaning, and rightly so, because racism—treating people differently because of their race, where race is irrelevant—is odious. However, certain people with an agenda (hint: leftists) have applied the word to whatever they oppose, hoping, thereby, that the stigma of the word rubs off on, or attaches to, the thing to which the word is (wrongly) applied. It's a form of rhetorical manipulation (not to mention personal abuse). Fortunately, most people now understand the technique and (rightly) resent its practitioners.