Reader reaction suggests that yesterday’s post may have gone too hard on the Z Man, so here’s a classic post that showcases his strengths. Here he demonstrates his penchant for exposing the Death Cult’s deliberate corruption of language.
Maybe it has always been true, but it seems like we live in an age of esoteric language or pseudo-language. Everyone is familiar with the gag of using “undocumented worker” in place of “illegal alien.” Janitors became sanitation engineers and teachers are now educators. It’s a part of how the American Left makes war on our civilization. By destroying the language they destroy the truth. If words no longer have common and concise meanings, then there is no truth, only force.
Quick aside: doing away with reason so that everything is reduced to the blatant will to power is a hallmark of postmodernism.
There’s another aspect to this. The Progs create pleasant sounding phrases and neologisms that are packed with danger. It’s a natural outgrowth of the passive-aggressive tactics popular with the Progs. The new word or phrase is not intended to clarify or explain idea, but to warn people that the official truth has been decided and any further debate will be seen as a challenge. As everyone knows, the Left responds to a challenge with violence so the new phrase means “shut up or else.”
A partial list of pleasant-sounding yet perilous pseudo-language terms follows. Here are some of the highlights:
Have a conversation: Whenever you hear someone say they want to have a conversation about something, what they mean is they want to shut down all debate and impose their will with regards to the subject. Having a conversation about marriage led to the end of the homosexual marriage debate in favor of the sodomites. Having a conversation about race means Progs screaming at white people about racism and white privilege. Having a conversation always means sitting through a lecture.
Here’s What You Need To Know: This is a favorite of female millennial writers, who imagine themselves as brilliant because they got a gold star from their lefty teachers in school. It’s a phrase that sets themselves up as the arbiter of what is and what is not worth knowing about a topic. Unsurprisingly, what never needs to be known is anything that contradicts the one true faith. As soon as you see this in a post, it means that what you need to know is they are right and shut up.
Conservative Principles: Alternatively, “first principles” or “principled conservative.” The Conservative Industrial Complex loves throwing this around to benefit themselves and damage anyone questioning their project. As soon as you hear Official Conservatives™ talking about their principles, it means they are either about to throw in with the Left against you or they are preparing to surrender on some cultural issue.
Inclusive: This means normal people need not apply. Something that is inclusive is something that excludes the things normal people consider to be normal. A club that is inclusive, for example, will be full of homosexual males, blue haired lesbians and people with fashionable mental disorders. Inclusive is code for fringe weirdos only.
Divisive: Since uniformity and conformity are the highest virtues of Progressivism, anything that contradicts the tenets of the faith are labeled “divisive.” This lets coreligionists know that the person or argument is a major hate crime. This is also a mortal sin. There’s not much worse than being divisive.
Polarizing: Like divisive, this word is used for people or ideas that contradict the faith, but have not yet become mortal sins. The person or idea is causing conflict in the cult, but not so much that it is a threat. This is a venial sin.
It’s Complicated: This means it is not complicated, but we’re going to pretend it is so we can get a bunch of our friends jobs in the bureaucracy. Health care is complicated, for example, so it means thousands of jobs for liberal arts majors out of swank private colleges.
There’s a lot more work to be done: Politicians love saying this, usually after they rattle off a long list of their alleged accomplishments. Professional barnacles also love using this phrase when promoting whatever cause it is they represent, a cause that is fully funded by tax payers. In both cases, it means nothing will ever be solved and the racket will go on forever or until the treasury is empty.
The whole lexicon of lies is well worth reading.
So is the first installment in my mecha thriller series Combat Frame XSeed. Buy it now for just 99 cents!
Brian
Thanks. Zman provides an invaluable corrective to Orwell's classic essay on the English language.
It's not the inclusion of Latin that corrupts but the deliberate obscuring of readily understandable communication is the true root.
xavier
It's a public service he provides!
He sure does
And that's the insight we need to remember from him and Orwell. Obscuring plain meaning eventually leads to the witch test
xavier
You and I think alike more often than not.
One brain.
One of the comments in the link you provided really got to me. Being a natural pessimist due to OCPD, it really resonated. Pray God have mercy on us all.
The commenter called "Epaminondas" said this:
"The Left is damned sure not going to surrender. This is going to be akin to the Battle of Okinawa, i.e. town by town, house by house."
Or even, I'd say, by Napoleon's army attacking the Spanish in the Second Siege of Saragossa during the Peninsular War — room by room.
I'd say you have it right.
I'm praying for you.
Roy
Just remember our Lord resurrected on the 3rd day for us all
The fight is a hard one. But
He triumphes in the end.
xavier
I may be assigning too much significance to our orders in Ephesians 6, but it seems to me that in the moment of crisis, we're usually on the defensive, or seem to be. Our orders are to stand our ground, to resist evil and temptation, to be ready to move, and to remain standing at the end of the battle, which I suppose means we're under orders, as it were, not to become spiritual casualties. The Church as a whole marches on, because the word never returns to God without fulfilling His purpose for it, because we are more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us, and because it is by their martyrdom that the martyrs overcome. They stand their ground for the truth. They always suffer, and often die, but they would rather die for the truth than consent to a lie. I can't remember the exact context, but I think I was looking at an English-Greek interlinear version of the Bible online somewhere and noticed that the word martyr, in Greek is related to the word 'witness' or 'testimony.' I never knew that.
Gentlemen, from my heart, thank you for your prayers on my behalf.
And if you'd pardon this tangent, permit me to link for you this video series called "OCPD: My Life In Debris". Mr. Daryll Rossignol hosts the series and also suffers from this malady.
Let me tell you, this series is a godsend and has helped countless folks who suffer from this or know someone who does. About three million Americans suffer from it. And between 5% to 8% of the world's population bear this particular cross.
Here is the link. I hope this will a benefit to you all. God strengthen you all always.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLywy__3rZvQVDJ8DxtTCvtgcMfC1Wco9u
Roy
Thanks for the link.
Know that you're not alone and you can reach out anytime.
xavier