Pat O'Brien

Every age has its worries . . .

Words and phrases that no longer mean what they used to:

(Watch this list grow.)

Activist = always substitute the word troublemaker for activist; it will make you think; definition: a troublemaker, shit stirrer, hoodlum with a greedy heart and a contrived cause

Airport security = mainly a series of arbitrary procedures that inconvenience,  debase and delay travellers passing through without really guaranteeing safety in the air

Anti-abortion = the Trojan horse being used by right-wing religious fascists to sneak through and impose their overall social/fascist agenda on everyone else

Asylum seeker = an economic opportunist, usually a social welfare system parasite in their new host country

'Brutal' murder, rape, etc. = as opposed to 'gentle' versions of those crimes

Budget reform, deficit reduction = terms flogged by right-wing politicians and their cheerleaders in an effort to shift attention from their true goals of protecting the interests of the rich at the expense of the poor

Dictator, tyrant = any political leader the governments of the US and/or UK doesn't like or want eliminated

Estate agent, real estate agent, property flogger = a parasite

European Union = the renewed multi-century effort by Germany and France to control all of Europe; once again, it's not going well, though it's nice that ordnance and troops aren't involved this time. Yet.

Global financial crisis = a 'politically correct' term for the robbing of the international banking and securities systems by thieves/con artists who have been allowed to keep most of the loot they stole

Journalism = the information circus, largely controlled these days by profit seekers, bean counters and others involved in making profits at the expense of the public's desperately needed objective news reportage. Or, for instance, it is more important for me to know the star of the idiot movie 'Hangover' is the world's most sexy man or for us to examine the consequences of our European monetary system failing?

Journalists = clowns in the circus

Low-cost or discount airline = a transportation company purporting to save travellers money while neglecting to mention shoddy service, questionable safety and a generally bad travel experience for its customers who really don't get much, if any, real cost relief

Politician = often a megalomaniac with an aversion to telling the truth

Politically correct = a bullshit term aimed at keeping people from voicing their true opinions

Protester = usually someone eager to push his/her interests ahead of everyone else's under a supposed agenda of promoting some lofty and valued goal or change of their own choice

Reality TV = an oxymoron; there is no reality involved. and no real entertainment value unless you're mentally impaired or just plain stupid

Recession = a nice way to describe the effects of the monetary nut squeeze by non-lending financial institutions in the aftermath of their plundering by their own employees and executives while brain-dead regulators snoozed

Referendum = an issue presented for a general vote that gives a false and manipulative impression that the public actually controls their government's actions

Religious freedom = the most destructive oxymoron in all history

Religious Right = not right, not religious, just right wing/fascist, and willing to sacrifice anything to impose the will of this movement's supporter's contrived and cleverly re-invented Jesus mania (anti-Catholic, anti Jewish, anti Muslim, anti liberal) on every one who opposes it

Standup comedian = usually someone who says fuck repeatedly and does/says lots of vulgar things that may or may not get laughs

Terrorist = anyone who does something violent or threatening for any reason we don't like, regardless of other possibly mitigating factors

X-Factor = supposedly a music contest, this pile of stinky TV poo is really just a huge money churner for promoters and sponsors, not least among them the ripoff phone companies