• FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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    2 years ago

    Oxford Dictionary:

    lib·er·al

    /ˈlib(ə)rəl/

    adjective

    willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.

    relating to or denoting a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise. Similar: tolerant, unprejudiced, unbigoted, broad-minded, open-minded, enlightened, forbearing, permissive, free, free and easy, easygoing, laissez-faire, libertarian, latitudinarian, unbiased, impartial, nonpartisan, indulgent, lenient, lax, soft

    noun

    a supporter of policies that are socially progressive and promote social welfare. “she dissented from the decision, joined by the court’s liberals”

    a supporter of a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise.

    Opposite: narrow-minded, bigoted,


    You are free to argue with dictionaries, but if your enemy is liberalism as defined by civil rights, democracy, and welfare then you are the enemy of all people, in my eyes.

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 years ago

      If one is trying to define liberalism against feudalism, that definition is fine, but it’s just redditor sophomorism to act like a dictionary is a replacement for an actual historical or academic definition of a political tendency.

      • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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        2 years ago

        Take it up with oxford, Words mean what the majority believes they currently mean. Anything else is just some shit somebody made up. This discussion is about the current meaning of Liberalism in today’s political context.

        • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          2 years ago

          Take it up with oxford

          My point is that you are misusing the dictionary as a replacement for actually knowing about a subject. People still call John Locke a liberal, and they do it because fields have definitions that aren’t colloquial.

          This discussion is about the current meaning of Liberalism in today’s political context.

          Look anywhere outside of America and it readily refers to sniveling market-fetishists. In America it only implicitly does because everyone is a market fetishist.

          • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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            2 years ago

            How dare I “missuse” dictionaries to “define words” which contradict your “alternative facts.”

            and FYI, Oxford is British.

            • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              2 years ago

              Dictionaries do not exhaustively discuss topics and the scope of meanings of terms, they give you a colloquially-oriented summary of what they mean to help you, for example, parse a conversation that uses the word in passing.

              John Locke being a liberal isn’t an “alternative fact”, you’re just a troglodyte.