Should the mainstream media just use Newspeak or call it out?

George Orwell gave us the concept of Newspeak in his famous novel, 1984. Perhaps his timing wasn’t as far off as we imagined. That seems to be about the time that Newspeak, as in reversing or redefining the meaning of politically powerful words, began to take hold.

If you look up “conservative” in the dictionary, you find out that it’s a good thing. According to Merriam-Webster conservative means:
3 a : tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional
   b : marked by moderation or caution <a conservative estimate>
   c : marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners

But the far right that has taken over the Republican party claims to be the true conservatives while campaigning for the destruction of just about every social institution that has emerged in America since 1900. They would like to get rid of unions, get rid of the minimum wage, get rid of regulatory agencies, kill all social welfare programs, privatize schools and prisons, destroy the Post Office, cut taxes for the wealthy so deeply that they shrink government to the point they can drown it in a bathtub…

Liberal also has a positive meaning according to the dictionary:
2 a: marked by generosity : openhanded <a liberal giver>
   b: given or provided in a generous and openhanded way <a liberal meal>
   c: ample, full
4 not literal or strict : loose <a liberal translation>
5 broad-minded; especially : not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms

Communism and socialism both, according to the dictionary, define systems of government and economics in which the state owns all means of production and distribution of wealth. In other words, everyone works for the central government and is paid by it, and the only banking available is a government bank. But that’s the dictionary. In Newspeak, anybody who isn’t willing to let the children of the poor starve and go homeless, anyone who actually acts like a dictionary defined conservative and works to maintain existing social order and structure; is a communist, socialist, pig.

Back when Barry Goldwater tried and failed to take over the Republican party for the far right, the effort to demonize the word “Liberal” began; and we started down the road to political Newspeak. Newt Gingrich and Lee Atwater were relentless in their use of propaganda aimed at this objective. The GOP succeeded to the point that liberal is often termed the “L” word these days. Rather than defend the good that is liberalism, liberals let this Newspeak takeover happen. They started calling themselves Progressives. So now that word is under attack by the word demonizers as well. Even the word, “moderate” is now under a pejorative. Tea Party Republicans in several states ran ads accusing their incumbent primary opponent of being a “moderate” as if there is something wrong with that. What’s the opposite of moderate? Immoderate, isn’t it? Is being immoderate now a good thing?

Isn’t it time that journalists, schooled in what words actually mean, start challenging Newspeak? What is the opposite of Progressive? Isn’t it Regressive? And isn’t regressive exactly what you would call someone today who wants to take America back to the 1800s or perhaps even to feudalism with landed gentry and serfs. How about we stop the Newspeak and start calling things what they really are?