Does anyone else get annoyed when (often philosophical) words are misused in common speach? Examples: Some anti-consumerist or anti-capitalists say “Materialism is bad,” which is annoying as a dialectical materialist. Materialism is the philosophy of putting matter over mind when studying the world, not liking fancy things. People frequently complain about “cynicism” meaning self-interest, cold-heartedness, or unreasonable skepticism. In reality it’s an ancient philosophy of living naturally and virtuously, rejecting social norms and ideals. I legit heard someone saying Stoicism means seriousness as in taking a sport seriously. It’s a philosophy of living virtuously and avoiding unnecessary psychological pain. These days people only know “op/ps” as opposition not operatives or operations. Finally, I know someone who thinks “dialectics” pretty much just means talking.
(not sure if this is the right comm, but it’s a rant)
The one that personally bothers me the most is “exploitation”. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when Marx used the word he was referring to how capitalists must organize and reorganize society in order to extract profit from the work of others. It’s the parasitic relationship between owner and laborer.
But a lot of ostensibly Marxist people understand the word to just mean “abuse”. Tbh I blame Marx for giving precise definitions to common words (like value >.>)