June 18th, 2009 10:45 am

The Newspeak Dictionary And The Silent Art Of Tacit Triangulation

While we’re on the subject of Oceania, Ingsoc and Airstrip One, at Jewish World Review (H/T: OJ) Rabbi Yonason Goldson rifles through 1984’s Newspeak Dictionary (referencing one of its ever-thinner newest editions) to explore “The Language of Confusion.”

And speaking of old media’s Newspeak dictionary, as Mark Finklestein writes, and as his screen cap of the Chyron from an CBS Early Show segment confirms, when are gay rights groups ideologically labeled during TV appearances, let alone being dubbed “Far-Left”? “When They Criticize Obama”, Finklestein writes.

(That this label simultaneously and subtly helps to triangulate — at least as CBS sees it and decrees it, to borrow an old Ratherism — the equally far left President Obama in the center is an added bonus, Mark astutely notes.)

Update: That “Far Left” label mentioned above was the the first on CBS “in more than two years”, according to Newsbusters’ Rich Noyes. Which makes sense: in the “objective” legacy media, labeling normally only flows in the opposite direction to begin with.

Update: The Professor spots more triangulation and heretofore unexpected labeling occurring:

WALPIN UPDATE: Fired Inspector General: I Want Congressional Hearings, Dammit! Interestingly, Greg Sargent uses the words “on the right” an awful lot in this short piece. Compare the treatment to that of Bush-era scandals, where those seeking investigation were merely dedicated good citizens . . . .

More or less related thoughts at the Exurban League.

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Ed Driscoll

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