Language

Return to Common Sense

October 2, 2019

Section: Introduction – Language

“Liberal newspeak isn’t the work of the engineers of the left, but its marketers, who reframe everything in comforting language while teaching you to use the appropriate terms that change the context completely.” Daniel Greenfield.

“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, function, and division of society.” John Adams

Philosophy (Background, Issues, Objectives):

Political correctness is allowing liberals to subvert our society.

In George Orwell’s “1984” doublespeak was the practice of reversing or distorting words and phrases to achieve an ignoble end.
Liberals have morphed from reactionary lovers of the good old days into leftists enamored with communism (anti-democracy) and socialism (anti-capitalism).
Liberals have embraced destroying and discrediting America as a vehicle to rebuild America in their dis-proven economic and governmental image.
Each Saturday Senate Democrat leaders map message points with congressional Democrat guests booked on Sunday talk shows.

Kate Swift and Casey Miller wrote The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing in 1981.

The book served as a prototype of political correctness writing.
The book had two main premises, both of them dubious.

o The first was that sexism and sexual discrimination were embedded in the English language.

o The second was that the language needed to be radically revised in order to change society’s attitudes and make it more inclusive.

Political Correctness is Cultural Marxism.

Political Correctness seeks to impose a uniformity of thought and behavior and is quite totalitarian in nature.
Political Correctness is a façade sold as tolerance and a way to heave guilt upon soft consciences.
Political Correctness is a yoke allowing the words of others to shame us into silence or inaction.
Political Correctness, like Marxism (economics), uses a single factor (power) to explain history.
Both Political Correctness and Marxism have a method of analyzing situation (deconstruction) that automatically gives them the answers they want.
Political Correctness says that all history is determined by power, by which groups hae power over which other groups.
Both Political Correctness and Marxism take from one to give to another (or keep for themselves).

The Left has twisted and redefined certain words to further their agenda and silence dissent.

· Tolerance – Political “tolerance” today is agree with me and endorse it and love it, or be branded an intolerant bigot.

· Hate – If someone believes in absolute moral truth and is a sincere person of faith, and objects to the ways some people are living their lives, then that person is a “hater.”

· Judging – If you disagree with me, you are “judging” me, and that is just intolerable.

· Justice/Equality – These two terms mean some sort of “deficiency in our culture” and the need to forcefully eradicate the perceived deficiency.

· Racism – Racism is treating someone differently just because the color of their skin, but now it includes intolerance any questions, criticism, or suggestion from another race.

· Gender/Sex – Sex is male or female, but gender is a social construct to behave in certain “acceptable ways” depending on where you are on the “gender spectrum.”

The abuse of the word “justice” has become so widespread that you can immediately identify the political slant of any group just by looking for “justice” in their name or literature.

“Social justice” refers to a controversial package of goals including political redistribution of wealth, gay marriage, and a campaign against “institutional racism,” “classism,” “ableism,” and “heterosexism.”
birthing justice
climate justice
disability justice
economic justice
environmental justice
farmworker justice
food justice
gender justice
health care justice
housing justice
immigrant justice
media justice
prison justice
racial justice
reproductive justice
transformative justice
urban justice
workplace justice

Even common phrases have morphed into unintelligible bafflegab.

Advocacy Journalism is agenda driven indoctrination of unsuspecting consumer.
Alcoholics are called Anti-sobriety Activists.
Bum is called a Displaced individual.
Community Organizer is a government paid outside agitator.
Crooks are called Morally or Ethically Challenged Individuals.
Drug Addicts are called Chemically Challenged.
Federal Spending is called Savings.
Hunger is called Very Low Food Security.
Insane People are called Selectively Perceptive.
Objective, fact-based evaluation of climate data is called Climate Change Denier.
Old People are called Gerontologically Advanced.
Overexpansion of the Money Supply has been called Global Savings Glut.
Voter fraud avoidance is called Voter Suppression.

Liberal euphemisms are used to obfuscate imprecise language.

Sometimes it is hard to decipher what liberals really mean when they shout out their rhetoric, their snazzy phrases, and meaningless, faux-academic diction.
Equal rights for (fill in the blank) disguises the desire for preferential treatment for (fill in the blank).
Global warming / global climate change disguises the theory of man-made global climate change.
Greenhouse gas disguises the attack on carbon dioxide - the essential ingredient for all plant life.
Gun control disguises desire to disarm the law-abiding populace.
The plight of the homeless disguises people who are victims of their own poor choices, with the exception of the mentally incompetent.
Public assistance programs / government programs disguises desire for taxpayer-subsidized entitlement programs / taxpayer-funded appropriation.
“Secure livelihoods” and “strong economies” refers to redistribution of wealth.
Universal health care disguises the desire for access to affordable health insurance.

Euphemisms have become a big part of the Obama administration’s approach to the war on terror:

“Outliers” is their kinder, gentler term for “rogue states”
“Al-Qaeda core” are the al-Qaeda terrorists who survived the Bush presidency, then regrouped and multiplied under the Obama presidency.
“Overseas contingency operations” is the Obama administration’s Orwellian term for ”the global war on terror.”
“Man-caused disaster” is the Obama-speak for “terrorist attack.”
“Workplace violence” is how the Obama administration describes Islamic terrorist attacks that take place at work.
Violent extremism is how the Obama administration prefers to describe Islamic terrorism or jihadism because it gives them an opportunity to lump in the KKK, IRA, and Nazi skinhead groups who all together commit about 1% (or less) of terrorism.
“Kinetic military action” is how the Obama administration says “war” without upsetting anti-war groups.
“Leading from behind” is Obama’s “CYA” approach to foreign policy, which translates into, “we’ll wait until it’s too late to be effective, and when pressured, take some modest steps, but don’t blame us when the excrement hits the fan.” (Because it will.)
“Strategic patience” is related to Obama’s “leading from behind” philosophy; used in place of “dithering,” or “kicking the can down the road for the next president.”

“Freedom Fighter” target civilians vs. targeting military.
“Aggressive interrogation” is a means to disguise torture.
Redeployment vs. exit strategy (“cut and run” vs. strategic redeployment).

Transference is a political tactic used to project personal shortcoming as opponent weakness.

Accusation of Republican voter disenfranchisement vs. Democrat convictions on voter intimidation.
Republican across the board tax cuts vs. Democrat charges of tax cuts for the rich.
Republican welfare reform vs. Democrat charges of targeting the poor.

Principles:

Accurate and descriptive terminologies are required for understanding.

Spin control is recasting the truth to sound better than it is.
Hyperbole and demagoguery exaggerate and confuse understanding.

Recommendations:

Reject political correctness and doublespeak.

Restore original objective meaning to euphemisms and code words.

References:

“Conservapedia” conservative alternative to Wikipedia at www.conservapedia.com .

Lake Superior State University has compiled Banished Word Lists 1995 (www.lssu.edu/banished/).

“The Little Blue Book” by George Lakoff published by Free Press, 2012.

“Harry Reid & The End of Liberal Thought” by Dennis Prager dated May 23, 2006 published by Real Clear Politics at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/05/harry_reid_the_end_of_liberal.html .

“Doublespeak and the War on Terrorism” by Timothy Lynch dated September 6, 2006 published by The Cato Institute at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6654 .

“Political Correctness – The Liberal Brand of Censorship” by Michael Bresciani dated December 13, 2006 published by American Daily at http://www.americandaily.com/article/16777 .

“Political Correctness: The Ultimate Gag Order” by James T. Moore dated February 12, 2007 published by American Daily at http://www.americandaily.com/article/17658 .

“Anything Goes in America, If you know what to name it” by JB Williams dated May 25, 2007 published by American Daily at http://www.americandaily.com/article/18957 .

“Playing With Words is Serious Business” by George de Poor Handlery dated June 19, 2007 published by Intellectual Conservative at http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/06/19/playing-with-words-is-serious-business/ .

“Semantics Lesson: On the Meaning of ‘Moderate’ and ‘Bipartisan’” by Ross Mackenzie dated January 17, 2008 published by Town Hall at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2008/01/17/semantics_lesson_on_the_meaning_of_moderate_and_bipartisan .

“Terror Terminology” by Oliver North dated May 16, 2008 published by Town Hall at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/OliverNorth/2008/05/16/terror_terminology .

“War of Words – Fighting terror with a dictionary” by Stephen Schwartz dated May 30, 2008 published by The Weekly Standard at http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/153odjii.asp .

“The Debilitating Nature of Political Correctness” by A.W.R. Hawkins dated November 21, 2008 published by Human Events at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29578 .

“Leftist Speak” by Don Feder dated February 27, 2009 published by Front Page Magazine at http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1FF0814F-69DD-48D9-9403-56C64C4DFBCB .

“Perilous Euphemisms” by Susanne M. Reyto dated June 19, 2009 published by Front Page Magazine at http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=35276 .

“The Liberal Lexicon… Emphasis on the Con” by Warner Todd Huston dated August 7, 2009 published by American Daily at http://americandaily.com/index.php/article/1893 .

“The AT Readers’ Complete Lexicon of Political Speech” by Lee Cary dated November 15, 2009 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/the_at_readers_complete_lexico.html .

“Doublespeak: The Language of Deception Part 1” by Marsha West dated February 10, 2010 published by Web Commentary at http://www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=westm&date=100209 .

“Doublespeak: The Language of Deception Part 2” by Marsha West dated February 21, 2010 published by News With Views at http://www.newswithviews.com/West/marsha187.htm .

“Doublespeak: The Language of Deception Part 3” by Marsha West dated February 25, 2010 published by Conservative Crusader at http://www.conservativecrusader.com/articles/doublespeak-the-language-of-deception-part-3 .

“Doublespeak: The Language of Deception Part 4” by Marsha West dated March 11, 2010 published by American Daily at http://americandaily.com/index.php/article/3250 .

“Doublespeak: The Language of Deception Part 5” by Marsha West dated March 16, 2010 published by American Daily at http://americandaily.com/index.php/article/3267 ..

“How to Understand a Liberal: A Dictionary, Part 1” by Jason Rantz dated July 11, 2010 published by Human Events at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37996 .

“The Scourge of the Feminist Word Police” by Jacob Laksin dated May 18, 2011 published by Pajamas Media at http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-scourge-of-the-feminist-word-police/ .

“Justice Justice” by Zombie dated June 29, 2011 published by Pajamas Media at http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie/2011/06/29/justice-justice/ .

“The Statist Dictionary” by Robert A. Hall dated September 17, 2011 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/the_statist_dictionary.html .

“Warning: If There’s ‘Nuance,’ You’re Being Had” by Roland Toy dated December 1, 2011 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/warning_if_theres_nuance_youre_being_had.html .

“@#$! Republicrats Say” by Steve Deace dated May 26, 2012 published by Town Hall at http://townhall.com/columnists/stevedeace/2012/05/26/republicrats_say .

“10 Concepts Liberals Talk About Incessantly But Don’t Understand” by John Hawkins by July 31, 2012 published by Town Hall at http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/07/31/10_concepts_liberals_talk_about_incessantly_but_dont_understand .

“A Democratic Dictionary” by Jeff Bergner dated September 20, 2012 published by The Weekly Standard at http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/democratic-dictionary_652736.html .

“1984 + 29: As Orwell knew, taking over the culture starts with corrupting the language” by Victor Davis Hanson dated April 16, 2013 published by National Review Online at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/345662/i1984i-29-victor-davis-hanson .

“Political Correctness Is Cultural Marxism” by W.A. Beatty dated July 6, 2013 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/07/political_correctness_is_cultural_marxism.html .

“President Obama’s New American Vocabulary” by Victor Davis Hanson dated July 14, 2013 published by PJ Media at http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/new-american-vocabulary/ .

“Liberal Newspeak” by Daniel Greenfield dated December 11, 2013 published by Canada Free Press at http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/59768 .

“The Liberal Translation Guide: 20 Translations of Things That Liberals Say” by John Hawkins dated January 21, 2017 published by Town Hall at http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2017/01/21/the-liberal-translation-guide-20-translations-of-things-that-liberals-say-n2274756 .

“Six Words the Left Twists to Silence You” by Jeff Sanders dated January 22, 2018 published by PJ Media at https://pjmedia.com/trending/six-words-left-twists-silence/ .

“The Manifesto of Political Incorrectness” by Leon Lansky dated June 22, 2018 published by iPatriot at https://ipatriot.com/the-manifesto-of-political-incorrectness/ .

“It’s All About ‘Justice’” by Derrick Wilburn dated October 2, 2019 published by American Thinker at https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/10/its_all_about_justice.html .