Hijacking of Words

Here's a pet peeve of mine:  The hijacking of words.

For example, I refuse to refer to myself as "conservative" or "liberal."  There are too many connotations to those words that type-cast people.  They are also misused.  If one is "conservative," what is he/she trying to conserve?  Does that mean we are conserving what the Founding Fathers of the USA had?  If so, then we're conserving slavery?  Being enemies with Great Britain?  Riding horse and buggies?  If we're liberal, what social conventions are we trying to do away with?   Since when was acceptance, love, and justice a liberal concept?  I have friends on both ends of the political spectrum, and I can find these qualities in both sides.

Second of all, Jesus would have been a liberal (he went against the status quo of his time).  But, stereotypically (and yes, there are many exceptions), in the USA, it is conservatives who claim Jesus.  How can a conservative claim a liberal as Lord?

So, am I conservative or liberal?  I guess it depends in who's interpretation you are judging.  But, I refuse to be classified.  If we look at the 2 major political parties, what makes Republicans "conservative and Democrats "liberals?"  Isn't there elements of both in each party?  Why is individualism a conservative issue when the majority of the world's societies are communal in nature (not communist, but communal- each person looks out for his/her neighbors).  And, vice versa...Why is one a liberal if they look out for others?  Isn't that what Jesus did?  Isn't that a conservative action?

We give our presidents these labels too!  Nixon was a "conservative," but what about his renewing relations with China?  What about his trying to pass a health care for all bill?  In the same way, the Democrats who held that we should not pass this health care bill and should not renew relations with China (i.e. be isolationist) would be considered "conservative"...Right?

Then, in Biblical Interpretation, there are a bunch of words that are misnomers!  A Fundamentalist takes everything literally...but, when written, did the author of the various scriptures mean for them all to be literal?  The answer, obviously, is no.  Of course, some is literal, but some is allegorical.  Wouldn't a fundamentalist approach look at it this way?  Also, Evangelicals are also thrown into the Fundamentalist category.  An Evangelical is ANYONE who spreads the news of Christ.  It is not following the likes of the famous TV Preachers.  If one follows them, isn't that anti-fundamentalist? (Did Jesus intend us to depend on a TV Preacher to understand his message?).

I don't know how these word got to be misused, but they have taken over our society in a way that I'm sure they are not supposed to be used.

Did ya ever wonder???

Does God have a sense of humor???  I guess the answer is "yes."  Have you ever seen an armadillo?

If we work to pay the car bill, why don't we just get rid of the car...then we wouldn't have to work.

Is the alphabet in that order because of the song?

Exactly how much wood can a woodchuck chuck?  (And what is chucking anyway?)

If oranges were purple, would they still be called oranges?

If a fly didn't have wings, would it be called a walk?

Why do we drive on the parkway and park in the driveway.

Why can't we have our cake and eat it too???  What are we expected to do with the cake if we can't eat it???

Was the person who invented the weekend a masochist?  Why don't we work 2 days and rest 5???

How many fish died when Moses parted the Red Sea?

Isn't race-walking like a contest to see who can whisper the loudest?

Why didn't Noah just kill those 2 mosquitos?