Somebody mentioned "doublethink" the other day. You remember that, right? It was from Orwell's 1984, part of the government's aim to control thought. If you could require them to accept words as meaning contradictory things, you could begin to control their thinking. Like their mantra: "War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength."
It is chilling on one hand and, yet, almost expected on the other to realize that they're doing it today ... on a regular basis. For instance, they use "women's choice" to indicate "killing babies." "Oh, no they don't," some will object. "They don't think of them as babies." Yes, that's what they say, but when a woman "loses her baby" to miscarriage or, worse, violence, it's a baby, isn't it? Doublethink.
They are blatant about it in their drive for inclusivity that requires excluding those who disagree. Recently the House started their new session with H.R. 8, a rule for "gender inclusivity" that is accomplished ... by removing gender. In the document they list specifics: "father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, ... nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, step sister, half brother, half sister, grandson, granddaughter." Out. Because, you see, inclusivity requires exclusivity. Doublethink.
Those are just two glaring examples of the day. I'd bet you could come up with a couple of your own if you're not too immersed in doublethink.
Orwell's 1984 was a dystopian novel about a totalitarian government aiming at mind control. Using fear and punishment on one hand and doublethink and control of the language on the other, they set out with apparent success to gain control over a populace who embraced their overlords. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. The story serves as a model for us today. We only have to ask if it's a model we want to follow or avoid. Currently our societal arc is to embrace rather than to evade.
3 comments:
In South Carolina the Demokrats are now calling the unborn "pretend life." We've gone beyond 1984.
https://notthebee.com/article/wanna-see-something-watch-sc-democrats-call-unborn-babies-pretend-life-and-then-walk-out-of-the-state-house-chamber-in-protest-of-the-heartbeat-bill
I imagine many felt this way when they amended that document to include "him or her" and "he or she". Apparently that want inclusive enough, now it's just the title or "them" because now we know better that there aren't just 2 genders to choose from.
At least we can rest assured that the government had fixed all our major problems. There's no way they'd be wasting time editing a document that effects nobody by removing gendered terminology.
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