Our family always enjoys watching the National Spelling Bee finals, which were held last night in Washington, D.C. My sons in particular are always in awe of the poise - and knowledge - of these 12- and 13-year old spellers. Last night we learned a new word that has heightened relevance right now for the United States: kakistocracy.
kak·is·toc·ra·cy [kak-uh-stok-ruh-see] –noun, plural -cies.
Government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power. Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.
[Origin: 1820–30; < Gk kákisto(s), superl. of kakós bad]
In addition to hearing a definition and the etymology of a word, spellers could also request that the word be used in a sentence. How about this example:
"The Bush administration precipitated the decline of America to a mere kakistocracy amidst its democratic neighbors." Or how about . . .
"Embracing the forms and practices of a kakistocracy, the Bush administration hastened the destruction of the American republic."
Use the word while you can. The Christian Right is engaged in a very conscious war against words and their traditional meanings in our society. Words like "patriotism," "truth," "American," "justice" and "tolerance" are victims of a Christo-fascist logocide (another good spelling bee word!) in which definitions are rewritten or reinterpreted through the prism of Christian conservatism. They're hijacking the language of the Republic and 99% of Americans don't even realize it. The forces of totalitarianism did the exact same thing in Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Stalinist Russia.
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1 comment:
Great post. Words are some of my favorite things ;-) and I will use this every chance I get.
Do you know, you should get a blogging award for the widest range of interesting subject matter. I'm totally serious.
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