Political correctness is changing the language faster than most people can keep up with it. Amy Coney Barrett found this out during her confirmation hearings when she used the word “preference” instead of “orientation” in reference to sexuality.
Democratic lawmakers pounced immediately. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called Barrett’s use of the word that was widely accepted until this week as “shameful and offensive,” and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) called it “offensive and outdated.” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also grilled the SCOTUS nominee over her use of the benign word.
Barrett laid the issue to rest when she told Booker: “Senator, I really — in using that word, I did not mean to imply that I think that, you know … that it is not an immutable characteristic or that it’s solely a matter of preference. I honestly did not mean any offense or to make any statement by that.”
She also made unequivocally clear to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that discrimination based on one’s sexuality is wrong. But it didn’t matter. The attack line had already been deployed.
Late Tuesday night, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary changed its definition of the word “preference.” As recently as September, the dictionary considered the term interchangeable with “orientation.” But now, in alignment with the left’s attack against Barrett, the dictionary altered its definition of the word, describing it as offensive when used to refer to a person’s sexuality.
Despite the aligned attack against Barrett, those on the left — including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden — have, without issue, used the word “preference” in describing sexuality Judd Deere, who is openly gay and serves as a deputy press secretary to President Donald Trump, noted Biden has used the word, adding, “I know what offends me, and this does not.”
Robby Soave, an editor at “Reason,” suggested the left demand an immediate apology from Joe Biden, because he, too, has used the same turn of phrase as Barrett. Biden used the term during a roundtable discussion, vowing to “rebuild the backbone of this country, the middle class, but this time bring everybody along regardless of color, sexual preference, their backgrounds.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice