"Many of the words and phrases used..." - Quote by Thomas Sowell
Many of the words and phrases used in the media and among academics suggest that things simply: happen: to people, rather than be being caused by their own choices and behavior. Thus there is said to be an 'epidemic' of teenage pregnancy, or of drug usage, as if these things were like the flu that people catch just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
More by Thomas Sowell
“What does 'economic justice' mean, except that you want something that someone else produced, without having to produce anything yourself in return?”
“What is called 'capitalism' might more accurately be called consumerism. It is the consumers who call the tune, and those capitalists who want to remain capitalists have to learn to dance to it.”
“People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”
More on Responsibility
“Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
“Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wildlife and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.”
“When government does its job properly people are free to do theirs.”
More on Language
“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips; -- not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.”
“There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language”
“England is a very popular foreign country to visit because the people there speak some English.”