Thomas Sowell, in his excellent book, Intellectuals and Society, discusses the attempt to change our society by the use of words, particularly changing the meaning of words. He uses the example of progressivism, which came under criticism with the development of the Progressive Movement of the 1920’s and their support of communism. Most progressives, who were either socialists or communists at that time, began to call themselves “liberals,” a term which previously had been defined as “the freedom of individuals to attain their fullest development.” By the end of the 20th century, liberalism had acquired the same negative connotation that progressivism had eighty years before (leftists or socialists). However, most people who rejected progressivism were now gone so that the adherents of liberalism could now call themselves progressives which, like the original definition of liberalism, has a euphemistic connotation. If you were not around in the 1920’s and did not know what progressivism did to our country, it may sound like a pretty good way of thinking. Who would not want to be considered progressive? In fact, one candidate for president in the last election rejected the idea that she was a liberal and instead claimed to be “progressive.”
As I contemplated these things, I began to think how the idea of Sowell’s “verbal cleansing” has affected the chiropractic profession. Some of the politically-incorrect terms that were part of our vocabulary have now been “cleansed.” The first one that comes to mind is the word “straight.” Unfortunately, it has a sexual connotation so it had to go. Do you think that perhaps “gay” was a plot by mixers to cast “straight chiropractic” in a negative light? (I’m only kidding!) Yet, more than one person has used the sexual connotation as a reason to get rid of the word “straight,” a word that had clear meaning when D.D. coined it to describe unadulterated chiropractic, (not mixed with a medical objective) long before it had any sexual meaning. “Straight” is now gone from our vocabulary. The thing is that nothing has been put in its place. Is that because there is no distinction in chiropractic anymore? What do the previously straight organizations and schools use now to show the distinctiveness of their approach? I will tell you what—nothing! They don’t distinguish themselves. And that’s the problem.
In a previous issue we explored how vertebral subluxation complex has replaced vertebral subluxation. Some argue that replacing a word with another is better than doing away with the word altogether! However if the replacement means something different than the original, it has the same effect, even if the words sound a lot alike! Do away with vertebral subluxation or change its meaning-what is the difference?
Innate intelligence. Now there is a politically incorrect word. It is not scientific, it may even be considered pseudo-religious. Some would suggest we get rid of it and call it viz medicatrix naturae or some other meaningless term, at least until all the die-hard B.J. chiropractors are gone. They may even suggest we do away with any term that addresses the metaphysical aspects of life. There are others words as well like “treatment”instead of “adjustment.”
Words have meaning. They should be used to clarify not confuse. These and other changes are not major, “just a little tweaking of our vocabulary.” However, they are not meant to tweak it or make it clearer (which is what tweaking is designed to do). They are meant to confuse us, to slip new thinking or new understanding and transform our philosophy and our profession. As innocuous as it seems, its purpose is not innocent.
So where do we go from here? It depends on whether we think our unique service and objective is important enough for the world to know. If it is, then we need to keep our terminology alive and use it. We must avoid using the terms that confuse. We need people to understand that there are chiropractors who mix chiropractic with the medical objective and those who do not. We need to explain that chiropractors “adjust” “vertebral” “subluxation” to allow for a fuller expression of “innate intelligence.” You can even call us “straight.” It doesn’t offend us at all. We need to make people familiar with our terminology. Then we will be sure that our approach to chiropractic will survive. V26n1