Aside from interacting with well-meaning innocents, 'politness' never trumps honesty. Politiness is often in the eye of the beholder. Being 'polite' to incivility is nuts. Patient tolerance with the misinformed is good manners. If they're 'polite' they'll come around, if not, screw'em.

The followers of the Procrustean path of Marxism are convinced that they may manipuate consciousness by manipulting language.

Now there is slight validity to this, but only ever so slight. The advantage is usually temporary at best, and the reality behind the symbol usually reasserts itself, with the vengeance of confusion.

The benders of language end up with bent language, a linguistic African-american picnic, in which we are all left to wander alone and confused, like the builders of the tower of Babel, unable to communicate with our fellows,

They begin with the sophomoric proposition that meanings are evolving in a living language, and from there go to the notion that meanings may be ascribed to suit political goals.

I must confess that I indulge my personal revulsion to and ridicule of this practice by referring to it my speech and writing as "gay," by which I intend the tertiary meaning of the word.

"Gay" began as something like "happy," or "cheerful," as we'll all feel when Johnny come marching home. Then the word was politically apropriated to become the preferred expression for "homosexual."

Alas for the poor homosexuals, the language exacted its revenge upon this outrage, and "gay" came to take on a third meaning, derived from the second, namely, "sick," "twisted" and yes, "bent."

I submit that this modern sin of Babel, that is, the hubristic delusion that man may re-create reality by mere linguistic manipulation, should be resisted whenever it appears. If a word is being bent before our eyes, let us challenge the bentness with a phrase like "so-called," or with quotation marks, or a footnote to the ambiguity.

Gutter-talk drives a language toward change; the institutions of linguistic conservatism, such as schools, dictionaries and the restraining influence of every individual literate, careful speaker and writer hold change in balance. Thus we preserve language as a tool for communication and comprehension.

"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names." -- Chinese Proverb

What Mr. Klavan said pretty much sums it up for me, although I'll admit that speaking the truth sometimes requires us to use some tact.

Here's another advantage: Think of all the stuff that does not surprise us -- price controls cause shortages, socialism invariably fails, tough penalties stop criminals, regulatory agencies get hijacked by established industries, government money mostly goes to the middle class, campaign-finance reform gives inordinate power to fringe groups and just funnels money in new directions, communist societies have abysmal economies and secular societies don't have kids, minimum wages usually increase unemployment, whole language methodology is a crock, etc., etc.

As Mona Charen once said, conservatives have the privilege of not being surprised by news that mystifies liberals.

leftism is nothing if not polite

Is this guy related to Cliff?

Being impolite to the uncivil allows the deviant to disorder your behavior. It's childish.

Have you never ended a discussion with a ranting deviant? How did you proceed? Did they think you impolite? Did you care?

I thank them. It confuses the heck out of them.

oj, in the same vein, keep smiling. It drives the b*st*rds crazy.