Roger’s Rules

December 8th, 2008 7:17 am

Some things you can’t say

While emissaries from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security are making Herculean efforts not to do or say anything of “offend Muslims,” radical Muslims are busy extending the list of things they are offended by while also seeking new ways to insinuate elements of Sharia law into the West–a mode of theocratic imposition that, far from being “fully compatible” with secular democracy, is something closer to its antithesis.

My second example is a seasonal one. In a recent column, Mark Steyn pointed out that the mighty Amazon.com is advertising a special music sale called “The Twelve Days Of Holiday“. (Hat tip for this to Instapundit.) This is what happens when you bend over backwards to mollify multicultural sensitivities. The linguistic absurdity (”On the first day of holiday, my true love gave to me . . .”) is not fortuitous: it is the presenting symptom of that moral illness that underlies the whole enterprise. In a later column, Mark reports that a reader who complained to Amazon about the excision of the word “Christmas” received this canned response from Amazon:

Please accept our sincere apologies if you were offended by the use of the word “Christmas” on our website. Our intention in referring to Christmas is to give specific ordering guidance for a specific holiday, not to exclude other faiths.

Pass the air-sickness bag, what? In the nineteenth century, the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard expended a lot of ink criticizing his countrymen for pretending that they were Christians when in fact they lived as thoughtless hedonists. I wonder what Kierkegaard would have to say could he make a brief tour through the remains of Christendom today? At least his fellow Copenhageans gave lip service to Christianity. (I’ve always thought there was a lot to be said for lip service: for one thing, it makes the practice of genuine devotion much more practicable.)

My third example was brought to my attention by my friend Dawn Eden. A new English children’s dictionary published by Oxford University Press, the London Telegraph reported yesterday, has dropped many many words “associated with Christianity, the monarchy and British history.” Banished are such words as “aisle” (those things running between lines of pews), “bishop”, “chapel”, “empire,” and “monarch.” But the Junior Dictionary is happy to welcome such new comers as “blog”, “broadband,” and “celebrity.”

The Telegraph quotes Professor Alan Smithers from Buckingham University: “We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable. The word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural world and towards the world that information technology creates for us.”

“Interesting” is one word for it. “Dismaying” might be more to the point, or even “horrified” the word applied by one mother who has tallied differences among Junior Dictionaries going back to 1978. It’s not only words that carry and help preserve Britain’s religious heritage and identity as a Christian nation: also gone missing are words that describe the natural environment. “Moss” and “fern” and “sycamore” are out in favor of words from the realm of virutal relaity: MP3 player, e.g., and voicemail, and chatroom.

The Telegraph supplies this tally:

Words taken out:

Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe

Dwarf, elf, goblin

Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar

Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade

adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.

Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Words put in:

Blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, database, export, chatroom, bullet point, cut and paste, analogue

Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism, negotiate, interdependent, creep, citizenship, childhood, conflict, common sense, debate, EU, drought, brainy, boisterous, cautionary tale, bilingual, bungee jumping, committee, compulsory, cope, democratic, allergic, biodegradable, emotion, dyslexic, donate, endangered, Euro

Apparatus, food chain, incisor, square number, trapezium, alliteration, colloquial, idiom, curriculum, classify, chronological, block graph

It may seem like a small thing that Amazon.com advertizes a “Twelve Days of Holiday” music sale. And haven’t dictionaries been moving in the direction of being “descriptive” rather “prescriptive” for decades? Sure troglodytes like me always complain, but if young ‘uns no longer encounter such things as moss and ferns and sycamores, if they never set foot in an abbey or encounter a bishop, if they never dream about elves or goblins, or eat cauliflower or play with conkers, what’s the big deal? Since they’re strapped to their MP3 players while checking their voicemail and dropping in on their favorite internet chatrooms, shouldn’t a junior dictionary reflect those changes?

Do you believe that? Then you will also believe the US State Department when it tells you that Islam and secular democracy are “fully compatible” and that “liberty” should be avoided because its a synonym for “American hegemony.” Yesterday, I made mention of something called “The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.” I, too, thought it little more than a (bad) joke when I first heard about it. More and more, though, I wonder whether it is making far greater, if largely covert, inroads into civilization than we had ever thought possible. Not, alas, into those civilizations where the Religion of Peace reigns or is making rapid inroads. But many–maybe most–places that had traditionally identified themselves as Christian seem to have surrendered. Is “suicide” still in that junior dictionary? It should be. Twelve days of holiday to spend in the virtual world of a chatroom while emissaries from the religion of peace busy themselves making the laws of your neighborhood fully compatible with the tenets of Sharia law.

Merry Christmas.

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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.
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.

Dec 8, 2008 - 5:00 pm 13. Andre' Jones:

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….!”
he he…

Dec 8, 2008 - 5:34 pm 16. Skeptic:

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!)
“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

Dec 9, 2008 - 7:35 am 24. A. Kievalar:

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:
Acsesis, dimpse, miscegenation, phlogiston, phrenology, roinish, etc.

Dec 9, 2008 - 4:16 pm 27. Steynian 295 « Free Canuckistan!:

[...] 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?
We better laugh this off or we will be not so “American” spreading our freedoms. He,he.

Dec 18, 2008 - 5:01 pm