Language is a system for expressing or communicating thought and feelings. It’s the communicative system used by a particular speech community with its distinctive vocabulary.
One of the most important books I ever read was George Orwell’s
1984. It was the first time I, as a 13-year-old kid, understood the forces in play where it came to world direction and misdirection through political sleight-of-hand. The dystopian atmosphere was depressing and bordered on despondent in its emotional range. The story chronicled the anti-utopian nation of Oceania’s relationship with its people, its place in the world and the CONTROL of the society it relied upon to maintain order.
One of the major formats used to enslave the people was through taking the people’s language and re-engineering it negatively to prevent communication concerning the way and manner politics was conducted. This control of language; through its use of
Newspeak and
Doublespeak lead to
Doublethink, all theories designed to confuse and direct the individual toward acceptance of a herd mentality.
Newspeak developed an artificial, minimalist language. This language shifted ideological thought and action by the individual. All other direction of thought contrary to the needs of the state becomes impossible.
Doublespeak means the habit of contradicting obvious facts.
Doublespeak develops a loyal willingness to say black is white when directed to do so by the incumbent party. (We now call this “drinking the Kool-aid ®” as a reference to blindly accepting a poisoned drink in the Jonestown Tragedy with Jim Jones having indoctrinated his followers to believe everything he claimed, no matter the consequences. Hundreds died.) Party discipline demands abject obedience without question. But, more importantly, this act of forces the individual to relinquish his free will and accept black
IS white while refusing recognition there was ever a truth to the contrary.
Doublethink is holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them as fact. An example of this type of thinking is where an administration tries to make people believe governmental macro-economic theories supersede conventional personal accounting practices and requirements, i.e. you can spend your way to prosperity and the idea governments are not susceptible to the same economic laws as the rest of the world’s population. It’s a matter of
Doublestandards. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)
Now, the Associated Press (AP) decided they’ll no longer accept the usage of the term “illegal alien” and commanding it be observed as an inviolate rule of diction and grammar. We have a problem. The AP Style Book is the “go-to” reference manual concerning all things to be printed and referenced in the press (both paper and media). The AP Style Book is what we’re supposed to use in the media.
That’s power. And with that power is the potential for abuse. It removes the subtlety and individuality of a writer’s style to connote what is meant in the passage considered. It also indicates the possibility the AP is a tool of the present administration to forge wordcraft into a gentler, more politically correct (PC) effort assuring we move slowly and inexorably toward
Newspeak, Doublespeak, and
Doublethink. It makes the Kool-aid ® more palatable after it becomes acceptable to use or not use a term in a heretofore acceptable manner. It removes the individual’s selective impact through his/her personal wordcraft.
It’s interesting to note none of this came about until Jose Antonio Vargas,
an illegal alien, working for the Washington Post drew exception to having it pointed out he was in fact an illegal alien. He entered the country illegally and in contravention of American law but we must be PC. He whined about this appellation while testifying before Congress and now we have the AP taking this stance where we must refer to him as an “undocumented alien”.
The die is cast. 1984 is a classic warning about the enslavement of the mind and the death of individuality through deviant governmental actions designed specifically to twist and shape the truth into something they want us to accept.
It’s just a shame the AP, allegedly an organization responsive to the First Amendment, would be complicit in this activity.
Thanks for listening
