Watching the video Digby posted today from the big Becksian party in Washington D.C. reminded me that I was going to write something about its theme: Bringing back honor.
What does Beck mean by honor? Here are some dictionary definitions (I took out the ones which seem unlikely):
1. honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions: a man of honor.
2. a source of credit or distinction: to be an honor to one's family.
3. high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank: to be held in honor.
4. high public esteem; fame; glory: He has earned his position of honor.
10. chastity or purity in a woman.
Who knows which of these he had in mind, if any. But isn't it curious that honor in a woman may mean chastity or purity?
"Honor" is one of those terms which doesn't have to possess an exact meaning. It just has to sound good, to make chests expand and eyes tear up.
Bringing honor back requires a little bit more, of course. One must show that honor, however defined, has disappeared and will now be returned home to the brave and the free. Those, incidentally, are also terms which don't have to possess an exact meaning.