The Language Vandals

 

I am linking to Jeff Deist’s article at Liberty Loft, because it is about defining terms.  The epigraph at the beginning of his article is a quote from George Orwell: "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."  

Today, “Political Correctness” is out. “Woke” is in:

Like culture, language is not property, and it cannot be “owned.” But it can be influenced and steered by linguistic vandals seeking to topple old understandings and leave us all overwhelmed and demoralized by the ever-shifting new terminology.

In the quaint, innocent days of 2015, we still called this progressive impulse “political correctness.” I attempted to define it then:

Political correctness is the conscious, designed manipulation of language intended to change the way people speak, write, think, feel, and act, in furtherance of an agenda.

PC is best understood as propaganda, which is how I suggest we approach it. But unlike propaganda, which historically has been used by governments to win favor for a particular campaign or effort, PC is all-encompassing. It seeks nothing less than to mold us into modern versions of Marx’s un-alienated society man, freed of all his bourgeois pretensions and humdrum social conventions.

Like all propaganda, PC fundamentally is a lie. It is about refusing to deal with the underlying nature of reality, in fact attempting to alter that reality by legislative and social fiat. A is no longer A.

Today, of course, PC is obsolete—replaced entirely by the far broader concept of “woke,” which goes well beyond language. 

Woke, whether a slur or not, may be used very broadly to represent strident left progressive beliefs regarding race, sex, sexuality, equality, climate change, and the like. Woke demands ever-changing language, and constantly creates new words while eliminating old ones. As a result, “cancellation,” de-platforming, and loss of employment or standing all loom large, giving pause to speakers and writers who must consider a new woke orthodoxy.

Ultimately, imposed language attempts to control our actions. . . .

Mr. Deist’s full article, which can serve as a preview of his forthcoming journal article, is at The Liberty Loft here.  

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More reasons to not play ball

 

Kaylyn Hlavaty at WEWS TV has more bad news:

In a long list of what fans can expect at Progressive Field for the 2021 season, the Cleveland Indians announced it will not allow fans into Progressive Field with “headdresses and face paint styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions.”

Anyone wearing inappropriate or offensive images, words, dress or face paint must be covered or removed, and failure to do so will constitute grounds for ejection or refusal of admission, the organization stated.

The new policy comes after the announcement from the team last year that professional baseball in Cleveland will be played by a team with a different name.

The Cleveland Indians held discussions in the summer 2020 about the possibility of a name change after years of protests calling the team name and former Chief Wahoo logo “derogatory,” “racist” and “offensive.”

And yes, the list of do’s and don’ts is long – click here.  Sure takes the fun out of it – what little fun there was left.  And no, this is not an April Fool's joke -- wish it were.

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Safety at the RNC in Cleveland

photo credit: cleveland.com

The Republican National Convention convenes next month. Do you think downtown Cleveland will be safe? Last month, Cleveland.com reported on the Cleveland Police Dept.'s and Safety Director's plans for the July event. But it's not just about crowd control and preventing damage and violence by the expected rent-a-mobs. Mark Tapscott at Daily Caller reports on “Five Ways Political Correctness Kills Americans.” It is scary. And Clevelanders should be concerned for their safety during the RNC in July:

Political correctness in the federal government protected radical Islamic terrorist Omar Mateen in at least five ways during the months leading up to his deadly assault on a gay nightclub in Orlando, according to a national security expert.

“The fact is that the FBI did recognize Omar Mateen, twice in fact, but as a matter of official policy under the Obama administration’s politically correct ‘countering violent extremism’ policies, the institutional rules of our national security agencies as a matter of intentional design ensure that investigative clues are obscured,” Patrick Poole told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Poole is co-founder of Unconstrained Analytics, non-profit group dedicated to analyzing “evidence unconstrained by preconceptions and biases” concerning international terrorism. He has been a guest lecturer on counter-terrorism issues at the U.S. Army War College and a speaker at the Army Provost Marshal’s annual Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection conference.

PC blinds homeland defenders: Among the most controversial of the five factors Poole cited was a 2011 decision by FBI officials to remove from its counter-terrorism training materials references to all terms found objectionable by a team of Muslim experts retained by the Department of Justice. Despite congressional protests, the material was never restored.

As a result, “violent extremist” effectively became the official federal designation for individuals like Mateen, San Bernadino attackers Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook, Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and Fort Hood killer Nidal Malik Hasan, despite their shared devotion to radical Islamic movements, including ISIS and al Qaeda.

PC perverts religious tolerance: The FBI’s head-in-the-sand approach is also seen in a recently completed Department of Homeland Security report that directs federal officials there “not to use any language that might be ‘disrespectful’ to Muslims, including (but not limited to) the words ‘jihad,’ ‘sharia’ and ‘takfir.’” Poole said the policies recommended by the report are in effect throughout the federal government.

Among the federal agencies in DHS are the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration.

PC discourages witnesses. . .

PC gives cover to terrorist allies . . .

PC hamstrings Congress. . . .

Much more from Tapscott here.

Michelle Malkin outlines the terrifying context in which the Orlando terror attack took place in her column here.

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