Like Button

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Newspeak

No, that's not the peak of the news. It is new-speak. Newspeak is the language being developed in George Orwell's 1984. The idea was two-fold. First, why not simplify the language? You know, there are so many redundant and repetitive terms that end up producing confusion because of multiple uses and meanings. Why not pare that down? Helpful, isn't it? But the other, underlying reason was thought control. The principle was this. We express ideas through language. If the language can be controlled so that ideas that are heretical could not be expressed, then those ideas would be, quite literally, unthinkable.

In Orwell's dystopian world, "free", for instance, has changed meanings. While we think of freedom, that idea was removed from the language entirely (because they didn't want anyone to think of "freedom") and only the sense in which you might be "free of lice" or a field might be "free of weeds" would the word ever occur. Take a word. Shift it ever so slightly. Scrape off the unwanted "baggage". Presto! Thought control.

In Orwell's story, the character, Syme, is explaining to his comrade, Winston, (because the word "friend" had been removed) that in the end, "The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness[1]."

And so it goes. The story had hosts of examples of Newspeak. The Miniluv, the Ministry of Love, was a terrifying place with barbed wire and machine-gun nests where people were tortured and drugged ... but it was the Ministry of Love. The Minipax, the Ministry of Peace, provided peace by keeping the nation in perpetual war so the citizens could focus their hate away from the misery of their own home. And so it goes.

As it turns out, Orwell wasn't a fiction writer as much as a prophet. We're doing this today. Look at some examples.
"We're a city that's at the forefront of inclusion." -Boston Mayor Tom Menino explaining why they were excluding Chick-Fil-A from Boston.
Somehow in today's use of terminology "inclusion" has come to mean "excluding those we don't find inclusive enough".

Racism is defined as an animosity or prejudice towards those of different races. That's as helpful as the dictionary gets because we know that today racism is defined differently. It is now defined with Newspeak in mind. You see, only members of the dominant race can be racist. Racism cannot occur when those from the unequal race engage in animosity or prejudice toward those of the dominant race. In America, then, since more whites than blacks (as an example) exist and whites hold more power positions than blacks, only whites can be racist; blacks cannot. You see, though, that this is thought control. By redefining the term to mean something new, there is no word available to cite the hatred and prejudice that hispanics or blacks (for instance) might feel toward whites. Indeed, to many, the idea is unthinkable. Sure, minorities may hate whites, but it's not racism; it's justice. Black racists do not exist.

You know I have to point out the term, "marriage", in this list. It had a meaning. We are so far from that meaning today that it is not recognizable, even among Christians. It used to refer to a lifelong relationship between a man and a woman aimed at mutual communion and at producing offspring. It used to be that everyone felt bad for the childless couple. It used to be the only moral place for sex to take place. But marriage itself is in decline in our society because fewer and fewer see it as a lifelong commitment. Fewer and fewer see it as aimed at offspring. And the number that see it as the only moral place of sexual relations are miniscule. No, no, today "marriage" means "two people committing to each other for an indeterminate time ("'til love do us part") for no other reason than for mutual pleasure." Not the same thing.

I'll leave off the obvious "gay" term which clearly once meant happy and no longer does and move on to the ever-popular "tolerance". Now, that word, according to the dictionary, means, "acceptance of different views". So, if I tell you, "I believe you have the right to your opinion, but I have to tell you I disagree with you," I would be epitomizing the concept of "tolerance" ... and be called "intolerant" today. Tolerance now doesn't mean "acceptance of different views", but "You must reject your own view in favor of mine."

One of the most devastating shifts in the language has occurred in the word, "love". Once a term meant to express one's concern for the best interests of another, it has so far shifted today as to mean almost exclusively "sex". At best, it's a warm feeling toward another. The idea that one could love another by seeking the best for the other without regard to how one might feel is nonsense. And, of course, given the shift in the definition of "marriage" to "we love each other", this shift simply means "we want to have sex with each other" more than anything else.

The first problem with this version of Newspeak is the theft of language. It's not merely that words change meanings. That happens in any living language. But in this version words are being taken from their position and not replaced. There is no longer a word that expresses, "We want to include everyone, even those with whom we disagree" because "inclusion" was stolen and nothing has been substituted. At our present day there is no term that expresses the lifelong union of a man and a woman for purposes of mutual support, companionship, and procreation. The word that used to mean that was stolen and no new one has replaced it. Simple concepts like "gender" (which used to mean "male" or "female" and now has ... what, 50 meanings on Facebook?) or "tolerance" have no terms. It's not simply that the terms shifted. It's that the ideas they expressed no longer have an expression.

A big problem with Newspeak is not that the language is shifting. It is that the language is being shifted with a purpose. Eliminate "racism" as any racial prejudice and make it only possible for white people to be racist, and you've eliminated the possibility of any other problem with races. Shift "abortion" from the termination of a life to the termination of a pregnancy--a "women's health" issue--and you've embraced murder. The devolution of "marriage" over the past half century is obvious and continuing to move the mark can only be detrimental to marriage. Stealing "happy" from "gay" and making it a birth condition isn't merely a lie; it is concept theft. Making "sex" and "love" equivalents scratches out all sorts of genuine love and replaces it with all kinds of false love. It is thought control whereby those with our own Newspeak are no longer able to think rightly or even to think at all in some cases.

Of course, one of the key problems of this "newspeak" is not merely that words change. It is the requirement that you and I change with it. Not only do they wish to alter "marriage"; they wish to make you embrace it. Speaking of marriage in its original sense is wrong. And by imposing these changes, they alter your thinking. And that is the goal. No longer will you think about "marriage" or "gay" or "racism" in its original sense. Now it will mean what they want it to mean, and you won't be able to think of the original concept because you won't have a word for it. Ergo, "newspeak". Newspeak in Orwell's book was thought control. It is a concept we are embracing today.
________
[1] Ironic because the root of the term "orthodoxy" is "right" (ortho) "thinking" (dox).

2 comments:

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Here's another "newspeak" word -- epidemic.

Now, the dictionary says this word means, "a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time."

Yet we continually hear about the "epidemic of obesity." Obesity is not a disease, rather it is a condition resulting from wrong choices. AH, but we must not make people accept responsibility for their actions, rather we must say they have a disease.

Stan said...

Of course, converting "bad choices" to "disease" is exactly the notion of the "Newspeak" I've written about. Thought control. "Don't think of it as something you're responsible for. Think of it as something that happens to you."