“Incentives” vs. “Subsidies”

Words matter. Well, they ought to matter. More exactly, the meaning of words ought to matter. When that meaning is altered then the way you think is altered in a subtle but meaningful way. It is rarely a good way.

As an example to make the case, consider the word “incentive” and what it is taken to mean. It sounds like a positive thing, doesn’t it? As in an incentive to do a good job. But “incentive” – when used in the context of the state – usually means a subsidy. So why not use that word, then? Well, because it has a negative connotation – as it ought to. A thing that is subsidized is a thing that is artificially supported. In the context of the state, the subsidy necessarily entails coercive theft and redistribution of stolen funds. A subsidy is tax money taken from those who are forced to pay taxes that is used by the state to financially support that which the state thinks is deserving of support. It is an ugly business, which is why the state and its apologists prefer to use “incentives.”

Understandably.

Because in spite of everything, most people are still vestigially moral – in the sense that most people don’t personally steal or threaten to use force to get what they want other people to pay for. That’s why meaning has to be changed. Instead of “your money or your life” – the straightforward, honest language of the mugger – we hear about what is “owed” and also that what we’re forced to hand over is a “contribution” (viz, Social Security “contributions “).

Redefining the meaning of words – and using words misleadingly – is a very potent mechanism of manipulation. It changes the fact to some other thing, more easily accepted because it sounds more acceptable. For example, when people hear “vaccination,” they think of immunization – which was formerly the defining attribute of a vaccine. Then the meaning changed, but the word used was the same. People were told they must get “vaccinated.” Later on – after they got “vaccinated” – they found out that the substance they had been injected with was not, in fact, a vaccine since it was admitted – after the fact – that the substance they were injected with did no immunize them from anything. It goes without saying that had the state and its purveyors of falsehoods in the media been honest with people and told them straight up that the substances they were being told they must admit into their bodies would not immunize them, how many would have consented to be injected? That is why the substance people were injected with was described as a “vaccine.”

People were manipulated into taking it as well as pressured. The manipulation being arguably worse than the pressure because people who are only being pressured know they are being pressured; more exactly, they are aware that someone is attempting to make them do something or tolerate something. They know that the pressure is emanating from someone who is not benevolent, in other words – because pressure is only necessary when the thing you’re being pressured to do or accept is something you would not do or accept if it were simply a matter of free choice.

“Customer” is one of the most egregious examples of misleading language. A customer is never coerced. That is precisely why the state – at the DMV and also the IRS – likes to use “customer” to describe the people who are forced to deal with it. The idea is to get them to think of themselves as customers; i.e, as people who are there to get something they want or need. It is true people “need” state-issued IDs and other such things. But they do not really need them. They are required to get such things. The distinction matters. A customer is someone who does not have to buy whatever it is that’s on offer. He may need it, of course – but there is no legal penalty hanging over his head if he chooses not to buy. Most of us need a car, for instance. It is not the same thing as needing to get government ear tags for the car.

It’s a shame kids aren’t reading Alice in Wonderland much these days. If they did, they’d read what Humpty Dumpty had to say about words and what they mean.

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