This and That - Part 9

First, jounalists started using 'lead' when they mean 'led'. Now they're using 'plead' when they mean 'pled'. I suppose they think that because 'read' is both the present and past tense of the act of grasping the meaning of printed text, then 'lead' and 'plead' must also represent both forms. It's as if they think the English language has an ounce of consistency. If so they should consider the fact that 'pleaded' can be substituted for 'pled', but 'leaded' can't be substituted for 'led'. 'Leaded' means that a substance contains some of the metal element 'lead' -- which is pronounced 'led'.
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It's amusing to me how political factions grab labels to help promote their ideologies. A few years ago big-government liberals started calling themselves 'progressives'. Who can be against progress? Well, that should depend on what the faction is progressing toward. A faction promoting the subjugation of our people to a monarchy could be considered 'progressive' by those that support that goal. The big-government liberals took a generic term and tried to redefine it as if it only applies to their goals. The principal function of such labels is to disguise the goals of the factions.
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I've said before that I think racial preferences, such as those implemented in the name of diversity, are themselves racist -- because they inherently assume that any member of a minority race is more like other members of that minority race than members of a majority race. They don't allow for the fact that a child of a white, rural, redneck family in the South would add more diversity to an Ivy League university than a child of a black, urban lawyer from the North. George Will addressed this today in the best and most colorful way I've seen:

Although progressive people would never stoop to racial stereotyping, they evidently believe that any black or other minority child, however young, or from whatever social background, makes a predictable and distinctive -- you might say stereotypical -- contribution to "diversity."

(Diversity) allows white majorities to feel noble while treating blacks and certain other minorities as seasoning -- a sort of human oregano -- to be sprinkled across a student body to make the majority's educational experience more flavorful.

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