Ahmad Esfahani: Ists and isms

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Published: 12-04-2024 7:28 PM |
Toying around with the English language can be both a fun and formidable enterprise. On the surface, the erudite and studied will argue until they are blue in the face that socialism is different than fascism. Better still, try to bring up comparisons between misogynists and feminists and prepare yourself for an onslaught of nasty emoticons.
What is striking about all of these isms is that they typically result in the same human expression. Namely, the hard-line disposition that “we” are right, and “you” are wrong; emanating freely from one’s chosen embrace with the embodiment of their ism. Looking forward while glancing behind, we see that Zionists, communists, racists, polytheists, and the remaining extended family of ists all seem to want different flavors of the same ice cream.
The surety of correctness, often spoken by a fool, has been salt and peppered throughout our present-day political landscape. As America readies itself for more bilateral stone-throwing, those with the firmest grip upon the projectile can no longer tolerate any resistance to their ism. Pick and choose all you like. Actually, ponder and invent more isms so that more ists can be created.
No longer lingering upon the shared existence of being, why don’t we all just choose an ism and deep dive into societal estrangement already. Is this not the deep blue sea of AI-induced isolation that Elon Musk has been warming (i.e. preparing) us up for? Now that the right/wrong ists are in charge, who needs people with differing opinions anyway?
Ahmad Esfahani
Greenfield