Most readers will be familiar with George Orwell’s concept of Newspeak, that diabolical instrument of totalitarian control that focuses on the primary instrument humans use to understand and communicate about the world they share: language. Newspeak, Orwell explains in 1984, operates “partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained or unorthodox meanings.”
When I first read 1984 in high school, the gruesome scenes in which Winston is tortured and broken made the the most vivid impression on me. But as time has passed, I have come to think that Orwell’s dissection of Newspeak is even more terrible. The examples Orwell used–”War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” etc.–were the sort of bald contradictions that most adolescents cheerfully accommodate because they haven’t the foggiest idea of what they really mean or what a world in which people seriously believed that war is peace, or freedom is slavery, would be like. Heck, growing up in a small coastal town in Maine in the 1960s, most adolescents didn’t really have any clear idea what “war” or “peace” or “freedom” or “slavery” was. I know I didn’t. They were abstractions you could define, if someone asked, but you were happy to accept the contradiction of their conjunction because, deep down, you were innocent of their awful implications.
In any event, that bit of Orwell’s book now strikes me as singularly grim because I now see the process he anatomizes at work all around me. Let me give three examples.
One: Last winter, Department of Homeland Security issued a document called “Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims.” While you ponder why the Department of Homeland Security is gathering recommendations about how to combat radical Islam from American Muslims, let me mention a few things this document recommends.
Because we are supposed to be “communicating with, not confronting,” Muslims, the document advises us not to “insult or confuse them with pejorative terms such as ‘Islamo-fascism.’ which are considered offensive by many Muslims.” The word “progress” is OK, but–George Orwell, where are you?–”the experts consulted” rejected the word “liberty” “because because many around the world would discount the tern as a buzzword for American hegemony.”
Breathtaking isn’t it? Those leading the fight against terrorism assure us that “The fact is that Islam and secular democracy are fully compatible–in fact, they can make each other stronger.” But where is the evidence of that? In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, President Bush went to a mosque and told his audience that “Islam” meant “peace.” Perhaps that was an emollient thing to do. Unfortunately, it is not true. Islam means “total submission to the will of Allah,” and absent that submission what Muslims give us is not peace but jihad.
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31 Comments
1. L Nettles:I though Amazon was supposed to know our preference so well. Why don’t they know our religion and customize their sales pitch? I guess they are no so smart after all.
Dec 8, 2008 - 8:35 am 2. Barry Dauphin:How could they take out the word “blackberry”? Isn’t that part of modern technology?
Dec 8, 2008 - 8:53 am 3. Left, Right and Centered » Twelve Days of Holidays:[...] Here [...]
Dec 8, 2008 - 9:25 am 4. bgates:When I first saw that “aisle” was on the list of excluded words, I worried how British children would ever know what John McCain was always threatening to cross. But what are the odds the dictionary still has “cross”?
Dec 8, 2008 - 10:28 am 5. Steven Earl Salmony:WHAT IS GALILEO DOING TONIGHT?
I find it irresistible not to at least take a moment to wonder aloud about what Galileo is doing tonight. My hope would be that the great man is resting in peace and that his head is not spinning in his grave. How, now, can Galileo possibly find peace when so many top-rank scientists refuse to speak out clearly, loudly and often regarding whatsoever they believe to be true about the distinctly human-induced, global predicament presented to the family of humanity in our time by certain unbridled “overgrowth” activities of the human species from which global challenges visibly issue now and loom ominously on the far horizon?
Where are the thousands of scientists who have a responsibility to stand up with those who developed virtual mountains of good scientific research regarding overconsumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities of the human species that are now overspreading and threatening to engulf the Earth.
Perhaps there is something in the great and everlasting work of many silent scientists that will give Galileo a moment of peace in our time.
What would the world we inhabit look like if scientists like Galileo adopted a code of silence, speaking only about scientific evidence which was politically convenient, economically expedient, religiously condoned and socially correct?
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustainabilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1176
Dec 8, 2008 - 10:40 am 6. SFluxe » Living Well in San Francisco » Childrens’ Dictionary Revision Means End of Great Britain [Culture Wars]:[...] the best minds in conservatism today crowing about how THIS IS HOW NAZI GERMANY STARTED, please see Roger Kimball and noted lunatic Vox [...]
Dec 8, 2008 - 12:30 pm 7. gavin:sustainability is a word devised by misanthropes.it is a political word,not a scientific word
Dec 8, 2008 - 12:56 pm 8. SK:My small suburb of Chicago has a sign inviting us to attend the Remembrance Tree Celebration, where we trim a tree. Shades of Milan Kundera’s “Book of Laughter and Forgetting.” I can hear them now. “Ah, we’re here to remember something. Now, what was that, again?”
Dec 8, 2008 - 1:02 pm 9. Roy M:I suppose the important part of that article is the bit about the statement by the State Department about Islam and secular democracy. The State Department says that Islam is compatible with secular democracy. Roger says Islam is not compatible. Why would the State Department say such a thing? What is their motivation? Lets think about it for 3 seconds…..
They say it because it is pro-American, pro-Western, anti-Al Qaeda propaganda.
Statements to the contrary are anti-American, anti-Western pro-Al Qaeda propaganda.
Why do you do it Roger? Is it because at some point between High School and now words became more important than lives? Or is it just the money?
Enough criticism. Now some helpful advice.
When you say things like “Terrorism is the true face of Islam” or “Islam is not compatible with Democracy”, or better when you are ABOUT to say them, you should ask yourself, “Am I saying something that Osama Bin Laden would approve of?” Then ask yourself “Whose side am I on?” And then do the right thing and say something that helps our side instead.
Dec 8, 2008 - 1:52 pm 10. Roy M:About 1984…
Are you are confusing Doublethink with Newspeak?
Dec 8, 2008 - 3:31 pm 11. Roy M:About 1984…
Are you are confusing Doublethink with Newspeak?
Dec 8, 2008 - 3:31 pm 12. Andre' Jones:Roger, by the way Happy Holidays (generic at best) I agree that autonomy is something we all strive for in America. The Koreans and the Chinese immigrants establish themselves as lucrative business owners and then the African Americans who have been here for centuries, detest, and protest their successes. Ebonics and Chinese can become very difficult in ordering on the menu…numbers are best.
Dec 8, 2008 - 5:00 pm 13. Andre' Jones:When my grandparents came to America they spoke Swedish. And they were very intelligent, but they were foreigners. So they learned the language and wanted to be Americans as much as possible. My father took the cake in being a 1st generation American. He went to college and then joined the Navy and died a test pilot as an LtJG. He wanted to be an American so bad, and I give him credit.
But yes tip toeing around the holidays is something we must do to keep the freedom we have as a diverse America. Sorry. I do see the point in this.
Okay, that’s it! “The Holly and the Ivy” is one of my favorite Christmas songs! Is this being banned? Tell me….?
Dec 8, 2008 - 5:02 pm 14. Andre' Jones:Well, I have one more oddity to add. The other night I had an argument on the name St Nicholas, Sinter Clause, Santa Clause and Old St Nicolas with Anglo Saxon’s. Go freaken Figure!
Dec 8, 2008 - 5:22 pm 15. Andre' Jones:Things you really can’t say at whatever….”I need more balls on the lower limbs here!” “Pass me the leg, I love dark meat”. “Hey turn on the lights it’s dark in here!” “I want to give them something that will knock their socks off!” And hey….”Giddy up Giddy up let’s go….!”
Dec 8, 2008 - 5:34 pm 16. Skeptic:he he…
Er… I went to the link posted for “Twelve Days of Holiday” and it said “Twelve Days of Christmas”. Am I missing something? Did Amazon just change it?
Dec 8, 2008 - 6:14 pm 17. Steve Skubinna:Mr. Salmony, feel free to remove yourself and your burdensome presence from Gaia. Thanks in advance.
Dec 8, 2008 - 7:05 pm 18. Vercingetorix:Sustainability is masturbation for socialists; it warms up their self-importance before they ram their fascist policies in any open public crevice.
Dec 8, 2008 - 7:18 pm 19. It’s Better Than Funetik Spelling, At Least « phaidimoi logoi:[...] of Western Civilization. After a bit of playing something resembling Chicken Little, he lights on the unfortunate decline of Oxford Univerity’s children’s dictionary: “Words taken [...]
Dec 8, 2008 - 8:57 pm 20. Newspeak: cultural cancer in the brave new world « American Elephants:[...] Kimball also discusses language today. Last winter, Department of Homeland Security issued a document called “Terminology to [...]
Dec 8, 2008 - 9:14 pm 21. Words Matter « phaidimoi logoi:[...] between language and reality — and the problems a disconnect entails — are there. Kimball, in passing, notes that many of the words removed describe the natural world. It’s the type [...]
Dec 8, 2008 - 10:20 pm 22. mtraven:While you ponder why the Department of Homeland Security is gathering recommendations about how to combat radical Islam from American Muslims…
Oh, try this: one of the very few things that the Bush administration got right after 9/11 was to realize that not all Muslims are radical fundamentalist terrorists, and the best way to counteract the appeal of Islamic fundamentalists was to treat normal Muslims, especially American Muslims, like human beings (the Bush clan’s coziness with the House of Saud probably helped). Of course, then they invaded Iraq, Abu Ghraib happened, and whatever good will we had managed to accumulate was squandered. But soon we will have an Islamofascistcommieterroristfistbumper President, (Malcolm X’s love child no less) so we can try again
The alternative to this approach would be to declare war on the world’s billion Muslims and the intern the US’s 5 million or so Muslims. That sounds real practical.
Dec 8, 2008 - 10:39 pm 23. Andre' Jones:Other things you can get away saying during the Holidays…”Are those fake?” (Wow, they look real to me!)
Dec 9, 2008 - 7:35 am 24. A. Kievalar:“Be careful with these balls they are very delicate!” “We can tie it up tight and away you go!”
Only in America can we be free to say such things without getting our tongue cut out.
I really wish that there were less emphasis on religion in this world. Religion is a private, self-serving spiritual manifestation based on “it” (God) Where does that play a part in blowing other people up and conducting genocide?
Unfortunately, this is the religious holiday season. So who came up with “Happy Holidays” as a replacement for Merry Christmas anyway? Who was the authority that made this taboo? Why not show our diversity openly in a crowd, wouldn’t it be nice to hear…. “Hey, Happy Hanukah, yea, Merry Christmas too you, and over there, “Mr. How’s your Jihad going?”
I would rather be an infidel and skip the complications, but that would be bending down to ending diversity. And my religion is better than yours anyway. LOL
Take a look at your 2008 calendar before you throw it away. If it’s anything like mine, you’ll see at least 6 days of the year are marked as Moslem days of note. These include Ramadan, Ashura and Eid al Fitr.
My calendar was made, published and printed in the USA (!) and it’s the same brand I’ve been using for at least a decade now. I haven’t kept past issues, but I bet even as little as 5 years ago, these Moslem dates were not shown.
Granted that 6 days out of 365 is not much, but of course, that’s not the point. And, chances are that within 5 years, even more Moslem holidays will make their debut. After all, the calendar still does not show such important dates as the beginning of the Hajj (currently on-going in Mecca) and the Birthday of the Prophet.
It’s also interesting to note that more than ½ of the “Western” holidays have nothing to do with religion: Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Independence Day and so on, whereas all the Moslem dates are 100% religious (can you believe that in the Moslem world there is no such thing as Mother’s Day !?).
A dissertation could be written on the significance of what all this means, but one thing springs to mind right now: “Soft Jihad”, the mainstreaming of Islamic values and institutions into Western societies by legal means, is making inroads in places that are most unexpected…and what’s worse, that on the surface appear totally innocuous.
Dec 9, 2008 - 10:28 am 25. Enoch:My reaction to this article is to shrug and think, “So what?” Enough pointless griping about Bad Things – tell us what conservatives should actually DO about them! How do we fight back against Newspeak and creeping Sharia?
Dec 9, 2008 - 12:45 pm 26. Roy M:Do?
Produce a conservative dictionary:
Words in:
Dec 9, 2008 - 4:16 pm 27. Steynian 295 « Free Canuckistan!:Acsesis, dimpse, miscegenation, phlogiston, phrenology, roinish, etc.
[...] ROGER KIMBALL: “Some things you can’t say” …. [...]
Dec 10, 2008 - 1:45 pm 28. gaetano catelli:in some of the more liberal Jewish synagogues i have visited here in NYC, the Hebrew word “mitzvot” is translated as “spiritual opportunities”.
this interpretation reminds me of that old Charlton Heston movie, “Moses and the 10 Spitritual Opportunities”.
Dec 10, 2008 - 1:54 pm 29. Perry Stroyka:If I may be so presumptuous, What islam gives us is Takfiri- the slaughter of the ‘infidel’ (to the will of allah, in the dar al Tawhid, or dar al Harb). Also, substitutioning ‘jihad’ (struggle against unjust rulers in the dar as Salam, (countries where islam is freely practised. )) for the correct word ‘Takfiri’ qualifies as an excellent example of both newspeak and taqquia (lying to the ‘infidel’).
Consider Mumbai, or Rome and Vienna airports, or Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland. The slaughter of the non-muslim, the “white people” (there) accomplishes nothing toward (any such) struggle to uproot an unjust ruler in the dar as Salam, now does it?
Our war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere, did precisely that. [jihad]
But if the ‘infidel’ wants to call the slaughter of the ‘infidel’ “white people” jihad, then ‘let the infidel go ahead and lie to himself’ (and satisfy his standards for newspeak, (whatever that is) simultaneously).
Isalm starts taqquia; if we continue to lie to ourselves, by calling it jihad, instead of Takfiri, then we have ourselves to blame, as well.
Dec 10, 2008 - 2:34 pm 30. Steve:Multiculturalism requires tolerance of all other cultures.
Multiculturalism is a cultural belief.
Multiculturalism excludes the alternative cultural belief of non-multiculturalism.
Hence, Multiculturalism is inadmissible in a multicultural society.
Dec 14, 2008 - 8:56 am 31. Andre' Jones:The shoe throwing incident cannot be taboo, because this is democracy in the making- right?
Dec 18, 2008 - 5:01 pmWe better laugh this off or we will be not so “American” spreading our freedoms. He,he.