https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/11/how_to_achieve_tyranny_with_mush_words.html
How to Achieve Tyranny With Mush Words
American Thinker, by Steve Rose
Posted By: Hazymac, 12/1/2023 1:20:23 PM
If you want to become a tyrant and transform your fellow citizens into slaves, all you really need are a few good mush words. “Mush words” are words with vague definitions. They’re slippery, hard to pin down, elusive, ultimately unknowable—and, for budding tyrants, extremely useful. The word “racist,” for example, is a superb mush word. “Sexist” is outstanding as well, as is “(whatever)-aphobe.” Better yet, accuse someone of being full of “hate.” But how do they work? Why are mush words powerful enough to achieve tyranny? First, you don’t need to understand why they work, only that they do. It takes no talent or intelligence
The trick is to weaponize uncertainty.
If it’s done properly, it creates a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose, house-always-wins scenario. If anyone gets close to clarifying things, the mush word changes definitions, escapes into vagueness, and the game can continue.
The best mush words are so slippery they can be applied to practically anything. Math, for example, could be described as racist—or pancake syrup, coffee, golf, sleep, grades, “assault weapons,” or wanting honest elections. It’s the mark of a great mush word: anything and anyone can become “wrong.” To some, this might make the word meaningless. But with proper salesmanship and coercion, it becomes all-powerful.
But that requires the second ingredient.
Accusation (#2) makes mush words truly lethal.