hoax: something intended to deceive or defraud.
I think it's time to reclaim the word hoax.
A fraud like the one Elizabeth Holmes inflicted on the world with her phony blood testing device was a hoax. Bernie Madoff's criminally massive Ponzi scheme was a hoax. The bogus Fyre Festival, grift writ large, courtesy of Billy McFarland & JaRule, was a hoax.
Climate change? Given the widespread scientific consensus, clearly not a hoax. Covid-19? With over 60,000 fatalities in the U.S. alone - and the latest projections estimating 100,000 before a vaccine will be widely available - also clearly not, nor was it ever, a hoax. When a word gets cheapened as much as hoax has recently been, it begins losing meaning.
While were at it, how about we give disgrace and disaster a bit of a rest as well? If everything is one or the other, doesn't it logically follow that nothing is either? Care to reclaim any over/misused words?
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
Unprecedented!
ReplyDeleteInes; Beautiful! (for your comment OR the wall that Mexico was going to pay for; or... perfect! (for your comment OR the telephone call to the Prime Minister of the Ukraine OR the response to Covid-19); or... fantastic!! (for your comment OR for any occasion when an adjective is needed, especially when speaking to FOX news, provided it's NOT describing a press outlet OTHER than FOX news.)
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