It’s, at least to me, a super effective form of terrorism, to steal words and change the meaning while kidnapping the group under that word’s banner at the same time.
It’s, at least to me, a super effective form of terrorism, to steal words and change the meaning while kidnapping the group under that word’s banner at the same time.
A near perfect example is turning the word "entitlements" into a word meaning giving money to those other people. When in fact entitlements are earned benefits.
I sent a missive to my local NPR station about that very thing: the interviewer did not call out the interviewee when he called Social Security an entitlement... I'm paying attention to NPR more now as it seems to be moving to the right.
Thank you. I too have written to NPR when they use wording that is slanted. For example, calling women's health clinics 'abortion clinics' when the clinics provide way more than abortions.
Hate to burst your bubble, but there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding here about what an "entitlement" is. According to every legal dictionary I've seen, this is what an entitlement under the law is:
"An entitlement refers to a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or legislation. It is a provision made in accordance with legal framework of a society. Every right is an entitlements associated with a moral or social principle. Entitlement programs are government programs that require payment to persons who succeed specific qualifications. For example, social security and Medicare."
In other words, yes, they are entitlements because the government is obligated to include anyone who qualifies for these programs (and others, such as the right to apply for licenses, etc.) To clarify Social Security, it is not a savings program. It is a social program supported by a special tax on both workers and employers. Eligibility is based on length of employment and payment is determined by a formula based on period of highest income.
I have no idea how in the world the word "entitlement" came to be seen as something other than what it is, but I wonder if it might be from so-called "conservatives" of the 80s using the term inappropriately to refer to other kinds of social programs, like welfare and family assistance to demean them as something people should not be getting (and demean the people who needed those programs at the same time). And then we took the bait (same as drinking the koolaid really), and became unwitting purveyors of misinformation.
Annie D, no argument with your legal definitions in very general terms.
Medicare, generally, yes, there are qualifications. However, users must pay MONTHLY premiums, typically taken out automatically from monthly SSA payments.
Savy users can purchase "Medicare Supplement Covaerge" which covers the 20% of medical bills NOT covered by Medicare. In other words, your "Co-pay" is covered by supplemental insurance, Yes, you guessed it, policyholders must pay a premium ($) for "Supplemental Medicare insurance.
Yup, you guessed it again, my Supplemental Medicare policy is purchased through a profeessional organization, in my case the ABA, which even pays for my Medicare premiums. NO paper work either. After Medicare pays its 80% for 'seeing' my retinanologist 👀 next week (no pun intended), Medicare automatically, digitally of course, sends the data to the Supplemental insurance carrier. That's the part the medical office personnel love as they do not have to do any work to get their Employer paid promptly.
OH yes, I get an automatic Quartely Accounting from the Supplemental carrier for my records and tax purposes. No more stacks of medical billing stuff. :)
Finally, recent Biden already-signed-into-law has put a cash limit on the out pocket medication costs as the Middle Class, especially professionals, have overpaid for Decades. Hopefully, we are headed for the New Deal. 2.0.
Well, Bryan, "entitlement" does not mean free. But it is still entitlement if all have right to access. And not all entitlements have costs, btw. As for Medicare, it was meant as a first step toward universal health care; it just got jammed up in some flaky thought processes that have been talked about extensively here and elsewhere. I might note that one's experience also depends in part on which state one lives in. My state, small and relatively poor, has a remarkable commitment to making health care available and affordable to as many people as possible. I do not have a supplemental policy, and glad I don't. It has been amply demonstrated that outcomes are poorer over all than just plain old Medicare. My state has coverage that covers most of my costs as a low-income elder, and I have excellent drs of my own choice. We aren't there yet, but working toward a flexible single payer model. I wouldn't want to live in some states, where access to health care is worse than a good many so-called "3rd world countries".
I don't know what a "retinanologist" is, and couldn't find it in my dictionaries, so it must be an esoteric specialty. Guessing it has to do with vision, based on your pun (which I enjoyed). I also have a regular date with my gifted opthalmologist, who seems to have a personal interest in helping me retain my vision. Grateful to her and to the people of my state, who care enough about each other to make health care a priority.
I have no problem with the legal meaning, but in everyday use by the GOP and many news originations it has come to mean a giveaway by government to "those people". What counts in this country is what people think it means, not the legal meaning.
Dave, this is exactly why it is important for us to understand what it actually means. When people with influence misuse the term in the way you describe (something I did comment on), the best response is to point out the legal meaning of the term and put them on the spot. Expose what is either their ignorance, or their attempts to bamboozle people with falsehoods and fear. It has become quite the thing to do these days to undercut their pretensions.
Those circumstances (reality if you will) can be handled by all us & not only in our Community which is something like a Digital democracy Wall. But, we must engage at all levels. "Everywhere ... All the Time".
The word entitled also has a negative meaning when referring to “the entitled coastal elites”. I can’t stand that label. It’s just another form of dehumanizing our citizenry.
Susan I am ‘entitled’ to my Social Security and company pension because I worked and paid for it. I ascribe ‘entitled’ to folks born into royalty or born with a silver spoon or some other birth advantage.
Evidently Republican Congressmen believe that the very wealthy citizens and companies are ‘entitled’ to paying less than their fair share of taxes. That, to me, is ENTITLEMENT.
Keith, as you are no doubt aware, many words have a specific definition in a legal framework that is different in kind or degree from common parlance. There is a significant difference between social expectations of being treated as exceptional (whether one is or not), and the legal definition of various governmental services and social programs that we all are entitled to have access to.
Most words have more than one meaning depending on how it’s used in a sentence. In terms of social security, entitlement means the person has a legal right to it. We also used it to mock a person who thinks he has a right to something he does not. Like the older generation complaining that young people feel they should a good life with out working for it.
Ellen In South Carolina, during slavery the ‘elites’ stayed away from the coast because of the disease and Gullahs worked the low land. `As climate change erodes away much of the coast, what will be left? Coast effetes? The term ‘red neck’ seems more justifiable.
Do a little research on the term "redneck" it is actually a term for labor strike action in the coal fields, not what I thought it meant in relationship to sun burn.
So, I did some research. While there is brief mention of redneck in the Wikipedia article, in the context of coal field strikers, its use to describe poor white farmers predates it by decades. It originated from actual red necks from sunburn. The coal field strikers wore red neckerchiefs thus the use of the term in that context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redneck
BTW, your "Do a little research...." is a bit rude.
Not my intent at all to be even a little rude, I live in what many would call Redneck County, the mountains of western North Carolina. We have a lot of what folks would call Rednecks here. I am a retired engineer and moved here because of the outstanding craft school here and I wanted to teach Blacksmithing in retirement. Many of our locals are super hard working folks and accept this outsider because I like to work with my hands.
I myself was surprised to learn that Redneck was a labor union support term, not what most misuse to mean backward mountain folk. Formal education is only one route to knowledge.
Apology accepted but keep in mind that telling someone to "do a little research" carries the implication that those you direct it at don't know what they're talking about. There are more thoughtful ways to offer an alternative explanation.
It’s, at least to me, a super effective form of terrorism, to steal words and change the meaning while kidnapping the group under that word’s banner at the same time.
A near perfect example is turning the word "entitlements" into a word meaning giving money to those other people. When in fact entitlements are earned benefits.
I sent a missive to my local NPR station about that very thing: the interviewer did not call out the interviewee when he called Social Security an entitlement... I'm paying attention to NPR more now as it seems to be moving to the right.
Thank you. I too have written to NPR when they use wording that is slanted. For example, calling women's health clinics 'abortion clinics' when the clinics provide way more than abortions.
NPR has moved, past tense, "all illconsidered.
It’s been moving right imho. I stopped a while ago.
Hate to burst your bubble, but there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding here about what an "entitlement" is. According to every legal dictionary I've seen, this is what an entitlement under the law is:
"An entitlement refers to a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or legislation. It is a provision made in accordance with legal framework of a society. Every right is an entitlements associated with a moral or social principle. Entitlement programs are government programs that require payment to persons who succeed specific qualifications. For example, social security and Medicare."
This one is from https://definitions.uslegal.com/e/entitlement/ but every law dictionary has similar wording, and Medicare and Social Security are the most common examples used.
In other words, yes, they are entitlements because the government is obligated to include anyone who qualifies for these programs (and others, such as the right to apply for licenses, etc.) To clarify Social Security, it is not a savings program. It is a social program supported by a special tax on both workers and employers. Eligibility is based on length of employment and payment is determined by a formula based on period of highest income.
I have no idea how in the world the word "entitlement" came to be seen as something other than what it is, but I wonder if it might be from so-called "conservatives" of the 80s using the term inappropriately to refer to other kinds of social programs, like welfare and family assistance to demean them as something people should not be getting (and demean the people who needed those programs at the same time). And then we took the bait (same as drinking the koolaid really), and became unwitting purveyors of misinformation.
Annie D, no argument with your legal definitions in very general terms.
Medicare, generally, yes, there are qualifications. However, users must pay MONTHLY premiums, typically taken out automatically from monthly SSA payments.
Savy users can purchase "Medicare Supplement Covaerge" which covers the 20% of medical bills NOT covered by Medicare. In other words, your "Co-pay" is covered by supplemental insurance, Yes, you guessed it, policyholders must pay a premium ($) for "Supplemental Medicare insurance.
Yup, you guessed it again, my Supplemental Medicare policy is purchased through a profeessional organization, in my case the ABA, which even pays for my Medicare premiums. NO paper work either. After Medicare pays its 80% for 'seeing' my retinanologist 👀 next week (no pun intended), Medicare automatically, digitally of course, sends the data to the Supplemental insurance carrier. That's the part the medical office personnel love as they do not have to do any work to get their Employer paid promptly.
OH yes, I get an automatic Quartely Accounting from the Supplemental carrier for my records and tax purposes. No more stacks of medical billing stuff. :)
Finally, recent Biden already-signed-into-law has put a cash limit on the out pocket medication costs as the Middle Class, especially professionals, have overpaid for Decades. Hopefully, we are headed for the New Deal. 2.0.
Well, Bryan, "entitlement" does not mean free. But it is still entitlement if all have right to access. And not all entitlements have costs, btw. As for Medicare, it was meant as a first step toward universal health care; it just got jammed up in some flaky thought processes that have been talked about extensively here and elsewhere. I might note that one's experience also depends in part on which state one lives in. My state, small and relatively poor, has a remarkable commitment to making health care available and affordable to as many people as possible. I do not have a supplemental policy, and glad I don't. It has been amply demonstrated that outcomes are poorer over all than just plain old Medicare. My state has coverage that covers most of my costs as a low-income elder, and I have excellent drs of my own choice. We aren't there yet, but working toward a flexible single payer model. I wouldn't want to live in some states, where access to health care is worse than a good many so-called "3rd world countries".
I don't know what a "retinanologist" is, and couldn't find it in my dictionaries, so it must be an esoteric specialty. Guessing it has to do with vision, based on your pun (which I enjoyed). I also have a regular date with my gifted opthalmologist, who seems to have a personal interest in helping me retain my vision. Grateful to her and to the people of my state, who care enough about each other to make health care a priority.
I have no problem with the legal meaning, but in everyday use by the GOP and many news originations it has come to mean a giveaway by government to "those people". What counts in this country is what people think it means, not the legal meaning.
Dave, this is exactly why it is important for us to understand what it actually means. When people with influence misuse the term in the way you describe (something I did comment on), the best response is to point out the legal meaning of the term and put them on the spot. Expose what is either their ignorance, or their attempts to bamboozle people with falsehoods and fear. It has become quite the thing to do these days to undercut their pretensions.
Those circumstances (reality if you will) can be handled by all us & not only in our Community which is something like a Digital democracy Wall. But, we must engage at all levels. "Everywhere ... All the Time".
Agree!
For many years now.
The word entitled also has a negative meaning when referring to “the entitled coastal elites”. I can’t stand that label. It’s just another form of dehumanizing our citizenry.
Susan I am ‘entitled’ to my Social Security and company pension because I worked and paid for it. I ascribe ‘entitled’ to folks born into royalty or born with a silver spoon or some other birth advantage.
Evidently Republican Congressmen believe that the very wealthy citizens and companies are ‘entitled’ to paying less than their fair share of taxes. That, to me, is ENTITLEMENT.
Keith, as you are no doubt aware, many words have a specific definition in a legal framework that is different in kind or degree from common parlance. There is a significant difference between social expectations of being treated as exceptional (whether one is or not), and the legal definition of various governmental services and social programs that we all are entitled to have access to.
Most words have more than one meaning depending on how it’s used in a sentence. In terms of social security, entitlement means the person has a legal right to it. We also used it to mock a person who thinks he has a right to something he does not. Like the older generation complaining that young people feel they should a good life with out working for it.
Damn straight.
It’s a multipurpose word.
Ditto with the term "coastal elites"! What does that even mean? There are no low income or less educated people on the coasts?!
Ellen In South Carolina, during slavery the ‘elites’ stayed away from the coast because of the disease and Gullahs worked the low land. `As climate change erodes away much of the coast, what will be left? Coast effetes? The term ‘red neck’ seems more justifiable.
Do a little research on the term "redneck" it is actually a term for labor strike action in the coal fields, not what I thought it meant in relationship to sun burn.
So, I did some research. While there is brief mention of redneck in the Wikipedia article, in the context of coal field strikers, its use to describe poor white farmers predates it by decades. It originated from actual red necks from sunburn. The coal field strikers wore red neckerchiefs thus the use of the term in that context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redneck
BTW, your "Do a little research...." is a bit rude.
Not my intent at all to be even a little rude, I live in what many would call Redneck County, the mountains of western North Carolina. We have a lot of what folks would call Rednecks here. I am a retired engineer and moved here because of the outstanding craft school here and I wanted to teach Blacksmithing in retirement. Many of our locals are super hard working folks and accept this outsider because I like to work with my hands.
I myself was surprised to learn that Redneck was a labor union support term, not what most misuse to mean backward mountain folk. Formal education is only one route to knowledge.
Again if I sounded rude I am sorry .
Apology accepted but keep in mind that telling someone to "do a little research" carries the implication that those you direct it at don't know what they're talking about. There are more thoughtful ways to offer an alternative explanation.
Arbeit macht frei