Would you rather belong to the "Apple Dumpling Gang" or the "Crypts"?
The connotation of the word gang reaches "hit an all time low" in the 1990's.
We envision today's gang members as drug lords who kill each other on street corners. Society rejects and imprisons them. Once members of a "gang" simply shared common interests and enjoyed social acceptance, much as members of a club today. Many pairs of words have experienced a similar disagreement in connotation throughout the years.
The term "revolutionary" currently enjoys more social acceptance than terrorist. The mind-set of a revolutionary thinks he/she must change a horrific aspect of society by forcing a break-down in government. In the mind of a terrorist he/she must alter an aspect of society he deplores in society by bombings, hijackings, and assassinations. The United States' history makes us sympathetic to revolutionaries because the war between America and the British.
No books refer to it as the American Terrorism because terrorism connotes anarchy and a lack of social structure. The actual difference in strategy between the two groups may appear more gentle, however, they both kill.
Regarding the words "gang" and "club" only one denotes violence. The dictionary defines gang as, "A group of persons working together; a group of persons having informal and usual close social relations." The definition of a club reads as follows, "An association of persons for some common object usually jointly supported and meeting periodically." Hidden beneath each definition, lies a more subjective, personal definition lodged in each of our minds. Why must society negatively characterize gangs and positively characterize clubs?
We now associate the word "gang" with group of juvenile delinquents who create disturbances with violence and misconduct. Commonly, society associates, the word "club" with a positive environment where young people can have positive role models in their lives who support them. Unfortunately gangs correspond with corruption and clubs equate with honor. Maybe we can solve the gang problem by getting them to join clubs.
Yet another combination of words similarly defined, yet with a very different application in everyday life include "religion" and "cult." Every religion on Earth has at one time had the status of a cult, According to
Webester's dictionary a cult has one major characteristic, "A system of religious belief and ritual." A religion too has a single distinct quality,
"Commitment or devotion to a deity, faith or observance." Unfortunate, In today's world, a cult will send you to eternal damnation while religion will save you from it. With deeper analysis, one might contrive that religion controls the masses about people with propaganda and messages of Satan whereas cults teach the true voice of God that evade many people who remain unaware of the desired spiritual effects.
Thus, many pairs of words like "gang and club" and "religion and cult" that once possessed similar meanings have experienced a divergence in actual application. One way to more accurately defines words might involve publishing new dictionaries for each year, so libraries would discard superseded editors.
Dictionaries could be created for people of different regions, different backgrounds, different philosophies, different occupations, and different biases. Could we each publish our own dictionaries perhaps?
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The main point of the article was to convey that "today's terrorists are ultimately more apocalyptic in their perspective and methods." In short, their mindset changed from; a means to an end to becoming the end in itself. Most recently studies have shown that terrorism changed from the ideas of the past. Paul Wilkinson, Professor of International Relations and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Centre for the Study…
- 1211 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Ecoterrorists Ideological terrorism – effort to change political power. Mubarak in Egypt Nationalistic terrorism – terr activity that supports the interest of an ethnic or ____ group EX Afghanistan • State sponsored terrorism – state threaten to use violence internationally, N KOREA Theories behind org crime • Anomie – normlessness by Angle Durkheim. Robert Murton picked up on that theory. Break down his concept into GOALS and MEANS. 5 Categories of ppl o Conformity o Innovation o Ritualism…
- 628 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The concept of terrorism and how it is applied with psychological and behavioral patterns is not easily identified. Peter Olsson’s concept of the “in-betweener” identifies it as those in a state of transition, seeking social cohesion and a route to overcome frustration with status in their life (2013). This theory is conducive with many studies on terrorist transformations and historical narratives of terrorists. As I mentioned in a previous forum post, personal grievance’s and perceived inequalities can drive most people to extreme acts in order to preserve their norms. And smart individuals such as Bin Laden are able to take advantage of that mindset and leave an impression that creates the transformation into radicalization and then acts of terrorism. People have different coping mechanisms so of course that doesn’t always work, however, on the few who are submissive in nature or fear isolation it is an easy motivator for radicalization. So in part, one could say that…
- 426 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In today’s society terrorism has a major impact on how we live, communicate, travel, our political views, and can even affect the country’s economy. But some may ask what actually is terrorism what motivates a terrorist, and it is easy to see the negative impact that it has on society but hard to see the positive impact terrorism have on society? In this research paper I will provide you with the information supported by facts that will answer each one of those statements. To show how no matter where you live weather it is In the big city in the United States, Europe, Africa, or the rural parts of Iraq and Afghanistan terrorism has a effect on everyone in its society weather it has an enormous or minuscule impact on their life.…
- 2034 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The following assignment outlines, research of several different sociological and/or psychological characteristics, which can influence new members to join terrorist organizations. Obviously, no single theory, can completely explain the motivation of terrorists. It appears as though a set of theories can come close to doing so sufficiently though, as they cover the cost-benefit calculation, psychological willingness to commit violence, and social conditions permissive to the growth of extremism, that underlie incidents of terrorist action (Simon, 2011).Often it comes…
- 1009 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Terrorism is not unique to contemporary society, the term ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ date back to the late 18th Century (Laqueur 1987 as cited in Newburn 2007, p. 871). Defining the word ‘terrorism’ is a difficult task; Walter Laqueur is said to have counted over 100 definitions of terrorism and he concluded that the only general characteristics that are most often agreed upon are that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence (Laqueur, 1999 as cited in Furedi 2007). Although these are not new terms to society, it is important to analyse any changes in the representation, of the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ since the events on 9/11. The perceptions that individuals in society have and…
- 2583 Words
- 11 Pages
Best Essays -
This pessimism is due to the fact that most people perceive gang as a group of people, called gangsters, who engage in unlawful activities. These unlawful activities can range anywhere from stealing a simple object to a homicide. When such illegal activities are performed, they are almost always broadcasted on the news, making most people more bias against gangs. Many criminal occurrences involving gangs have caused a detrimental effect on how majority of people view gangs. In the past, people have used the term "gang" positively. An example would be the phrase "gang of friends" in which gang is viewed with a positive attitude. However, in today's world, the word "gang" usually carries a negative inference because of the gangster's illicit behaviors. The society's disapproving outlook on the word "gang" is apparent as the dictionary also conceives the word "gang" negatively by defining it as "a group of…
- 804 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Two words may have similar denotations, but over time events and trends change the meaning of these words. Words such as “gang” and “club” have evolved, and since evolving one has arose as a positive word and the other a negative. These changes in connotations develop when an event becomes significant enough to be a part of the media and become ingrained in history. Then from then on these words cannot ever go back to meaning anything different because of a popular following and spreading.…
- 976 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In fact the word “gang” actually originated from the word “gonge”, which meant a journey and then referred to a group of sailors during the fifteenth century. The term came to be used to label outlaws during Shakespeare’s era (source cited 1). Gangs also were not always racially profiled.…
- 1167 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
In the United States a gang is a group of recurrently associating individuals or close friends with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other forms of illegal behavior. A member of a gang is known as a gangster. Gang members are typically "jumped in" or have to prove their loyalty by committing acts such as theft or violence. Over the past two decades, there has been a growing concern over youth gang activity in the United States. Gangs were once regarded as an essentially American problem, they are now considered in media accounts,…
- 1024 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Some people use Terrorism, the use of fighting in pursuit of governmental aims, in order to obtain political change. In the book “The anatomy of Terrorism” by David E. Long, he explains that normally “the victims are not the real target to the terrorist attacks-that is the governing authorities the terrorists are seeking to intimidate”…
- 959 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Terrorism is a method of combat in which random or symbolic victims become targets of violence. Through the previous use of violence or the credible threat of violence, other members of a group are put in a state of chronic fear (terror). The victimization of the target is considered extra normal by most observers which in turn create an audience beyond the target of terror. The purpose of terrorism is either to immobilize the target of terror in order to produce disorientation and/or compliance, or to mobilize secondary targets of demand or targets of attention (Schmid 1983).…
- 5483 Words
- 22 Pages
Good Essays -
The etiology of what has come to be the contemporary understanding and depiction of the word “gang” has a historical context set in the roots of psychology. For starters the term “gang” is where a group or collectivity of persons with a common identity who interact in cliques or sometimes as a whole group on a fairly regular basis and where their activities are similar from legitimate to criminal or even more (Sheldon 24). I point this out first because gangs socially control themselves right off the back by just having a common identity. They do distinguish by age, which also goes back to normally that’s where the cliques start because people tend to hang with people their age. Gangs control themselves by what type of gang they are, rather…
- 819 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Terrorists and revolutionaries are on two sides of a wide, prominent schism. While both a terrorist and a revolutionary wish to create pivotal change, terrorists use violence nondescriptly to influence those around them, whereas revolutionaries value the process of achieving their goal as well as the goal itself.…
- 607 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
“In the United Kingdom, the word is still often used in this sense, but it later underwent pejoration. The word gang often carries a negative connotation; however, within a gang which defines itself in opposition to mainstream norms, members may adopt the phrase as a statement of identity or defiance.(O'Deane, Matthew D-2010).”…
- 462 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays