In Fascism there is always a struggle. “Mein Kampf.” The Nation is always in peril from without and within. The peril requires unusual sacrifices, special powers to deal with the Enemy.
Loaded language is used to push a Narrative. Narratives create Mythology. Mythology leads to Iconization and Demonization. They can become a causus belli. Or a reason to commit atrocities.
Did you know that the people who invaded ancient India and set up the Hindu religion were secretly German? That’s why they were the Master Race. The Brothers Grimm proved it!
I don’t think you’re being pedantic, alarmist or any other label those who minimize what’s going on want to throw at your sound, valid arguments.
It’s unfortunate that people don’t learn from history. How many others in our history have raised their concerns at the time of major events, been chastised, and then proven in the end to be correct? If I was a betting man, I would bet that a year from now those same people assigning labels to you now will be saying, “Mike was right!”
"What we have learned about what man learns from history is that man learns nothing from history." —Winston Churchill (11/30/1874-1/24/1965)
And we should all ask, why is that? If you could learn not to put your hands over a hot stove, then why can't you learn what others experienced by being burnt from events to the acts of humankind in the past? Is it because people are ignorant or naive? It's because people did not feel the horrendous pain or endure suffering to make sure that that wound would never be forgotten-a scar they would see every day to remind them not to do this, not to allow that? I don't have an answer to explain human behavior. I have watched it over my 83 years, always being amazed at what I see and what I experience.
Your point is spot on. Language shapes not just points at reality. And reality is not a static entity, it is emergent. It drives me nuts how sloppy people are in their use of language (I almost want to say, especially on the left. We should know better.)
It may be a radical tangent to your argument, but I wonder, here, at how the right employs this sort of doublethink/double speak in their "Lincoln was a Republican" argument. They argue that Abraham Lincoln was, perhaps, the most consequential progressive in American history. (This proceeds from the "Lincoln freed the slaves" tale; in actuality, the slaves freed themselves by fighting for the Union during the Civil War, and Lincoln was an astute enough a politician to get ahead of this event by supporting the 13th Amendment.) But, they ignore the subsequent history of the 20th century, in which the Democratic and Republican parties changed places. As the Civil War generation died out in the first half of the century, the Democratic Party moved from racist segregation (racist slavery "lite") to a center-left, but definitely more progressive position in the second half of that century. (Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, even Clinton, to a lesser extent.) The Republican Party, in a mirror-image movement, went from the progressive positions of a Teddy Roosevelt to the centrism of a Dwight Eisenhower, to the class warfare (war of Republicans as a class against Americans as a class) of a Ronald Reagan, to the blatantly autocratic and totalitarian positions of the Trumpists, in the early 21st century.
But, through all this change, the two parties kept their names, teams that wore the same colors or jerseys, as they switched goals. The Cartesian argument is that language determines thought, then action. Yet, here, we have a case of thought and actions changing (inverting), while the names, the words, remain the same. How does this square with the Cartesian argument that the word, the name, defines the thought?
Well, I mean, if a Republican wants to try and use Lincoln as a cudgel upon which to defend themselves vis-a-vis the moral charge I make against them, then I invite them to do so. I know much of the history of Lincoln and the formative years of these United States. We'll see whose argument stands the pressure of argumentative scrutiny. I invite any partisan Republican Party supporter to throw the example of Abraham Lincoln down in front of me as some moral license to support this illegitimate president. Beyond invitation, I dare them to do so, actually. Please. Feed me the sustenance of these foolish arguments, such that I can demonstrate the charlatanism in them all.
Control of the narrative, that is the goal,"war",the administration title suggests force,which maga supporters confuse with power..since they mostly have had their 'power' taken from them,by deceptive persons and policies..they flock to the term in the hope that they may reclaim some of that power. Alas,they are deceived again. Dickens was correct when he warned,paraphrased, "beware of ignorance and want-and of the two-ignorance is the greater evil."
Beautiful, Mike. This is such an important argument. One more point is the words used in the Orwellian renamings are not just labels: they have prior meanings in the public psyche.
Calling the “Department of Defense” the “Department of War” is quite different from calling it the “Department of ZDXRBOT.”
The word “war” triggers deep ancient synapses, and the tech bros know it.
Mike, your posts are consistently provocative, and I say that in the most positive way. Words have meaning. They always have and they always will to a mind that is working. And by the word "working," I mean someone that enjoys energy spent on cognitive function. That is in distinction to the glitz, the trivia, the little thin crust of the conversation so many have with texts and with other social media glimpses that barely touch on anything that could be defined as intellectual. I suppose the human being is inherently lazy. An object that stays at rest continues to stay at rest. This is what I see so much of in this country, even coming from the cerebral hemispheres of people who are college educated with degrees and who seem in everyday conversation to certainly not be in the category of ignorant or naive.
And yet, to have verbal interaction with the next door neighbor about how could he possibly equate the criminality of the Republican Party under the Trump administration with his dislike of comma Harris. And instead of voting to keep Trump out of office, he would write in his dog's name as his candidate of choice.
How do you have a discussion with someone that said they work for the CIA and that appears to be highly educated and who tosses out the words "Jesus" and Christ repeatedly and yet in the same sentence praises Trump as being one of the greatest presidents of this country?
To that man above and the many other pseudo-Christians, I speak out as a Jew, circumcised and bar mitzvahed just like Jesus was, to say, just like Marshall McLuhan would say in Annie Hall, "you know nothing of my work."
Words have meaning, words have power, and yet the words uttered from the cesspool of Donald Trump's upper orifice were ignored again and again.
America and Americans, the way you make your bed is how you sleep in it. Many of you have truly been blind or ignorant or have had self-interests that have led you to follow or even extol this villainous creature. This must be an expression of a pathologic family unit or assorted educational system. I hope we can find our way in this country and, learn our lessons.
And the term “Warfighter,” over “Service Member.”
In Fascism there is always a struggle. “Mein Kampf.” The Nation is always in peril from without and within. The peril requires unusual sacrifices, special powers to deal with the Enemy.
Loaded language is used to push a Narrative. Narratives create Mythology. Mythology leads to Iconization and Demonization. They can become a causus belli. Or a reason to commit atrocities.
Did you know that the people who invaded ancient India and set up the Hindu religion were secretly German? That’s why they were the Master Race. The Brothers Grimm proved it!
Well Written Words! About the meaning of words.
I don’t think you’re being pedantic, alarmist or any other label those who minimize what’s going on want to throw at your sound, valid arguments.
It’s unfortunate that people don’t learn from history. How many others in our history have raised their concerns at the time of major events, been chastised, and then proven in the end to be correct? If I was a betting man, I would bet that a year from now those same people assigning labels to you now will be saying, “Mike was right!”
"What we have learned about what man learns from history is that man learns nothing from history." —Winston Churchill (11/30/1874-1/24/1965)
And we should all ask, why is that? If you could learn not to put your hands over a hot stove, then why can't you learn what others experienced by being burnt from events to the acts of humankind in the past? Is it because people are ignorant or naive? It's because people did not feel the horrendous pain or endure suffering to make sure that that wound would never be forgotten-a scar they would see every day to remind them not to do this, not to allow that? I don't have an answer to explain human behavior. I have watched it over my 83 years, always being amazed at what I see and what I experience.
Your point is spot on. Language shapes not just points at reality. And reality is not a static entity, it is emergent. It drives me nuts how sloppy people are in their use of language (I almost want to say, especially on the left. We should know better.)
Gee, on a writer’s platform we have to say words are important? Ruh-roh.
Interesting.
It may be a radical tangent to your argument, but I wonder, here, at how the right employs this sort of doublethink/double speak in their "Lincoln was a Republican" argument. They argue that Abraham Lincoln was, perhaps, the most consequential progressive in American history. (This proceeds from the "Lincoln freed the slaves" tale; in actuality, the slaves freed themselves by fighting for the Union during the Civil War, and Lincoln was an astute enough a politician to get ahead of this event by supporting the 13th Amendment.) But, they ignore the subsequent history of the 20th century, in which the Democratic and Republican parties changed places. As the Civil War generation died out in the first half of the century, the Democratic Party moved from racist segregation (racist slavery "lite") to a center-left, but definitely more progressive position in the second half of that century. (Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, even Clinton, to a lesser extent.) The Republican Party, in a mirror-image movement, went from the progressive positions of a Teddy Roosevelt to the centrism of a Dwight Eisenhower, to the class warfare (war of Republicans as a class against Americans as a class) of a Ronald Reagan, to the blatantly autocratic and totalitarian positions of the Trumpists, in the early 21st century.
But, through all this change, the two parties kept their names, teams that wore the same colors or jerseys, as they switched goals. The Cartesian argument is that language determines thought, then action. Yet, here, we have a case of thought and actions changing (inverting), while the names, the words, remain the same. How does this square with the Cartesian argument that the word, the name, defines the thought?
Well, I mean, if a Republican wants to try and use Lincoln as a cudgel upon which to defend themselves vis-a-vis the moral charge I make against them, then I invite them to do so. I know much of the history of Lincoln and the formative years of these United States. We'll see whose argument stands the pressure of argumentative scrutiny. I invite any partisan Republican Party supporter to throw the example of Abraham Lincoln down in front of me as some moral license to support this illegitimate president. Beyond invitation, I dare them to do so, actually. Please. Feed me the sustenance of these foolish arguments, such that I can demonstrate the charlatanism in them all.
Control of the narrative, that is the goal,"war",the administration title suggests force,which maga supporters confuse with power..since they mostly have had their 'power' taken from them,by deceptive persons and policies..they flock to the term in the hope that they may reclaim some of that power. Alas,they are deceived again. Dickens was correct when he warned,paraphrased, "beware of ignorance and want-and of the two-ignorance is the greater evil."
I have been noticing phenomenon for a long time. I can’t thank you enough for putting this principle in such clear and thoughtful language.
Beautiful, Mike. This is such an important argument. One more point is the words used in the Orwellian renamings are not just labels: they have prior meanings in the public psyche.
Calling the “Department of Defense” the “Department of War” is quite different from calling it the “Department of ZDXRBOT.”
The word “war” triggers deep ancient synapses, and the tech bros know it.
Mike, your posts are consistently provocative, and I say that in the most positive way. Words have meaning. They always have and they always will to a mind that is working. And by the word "working," I mean someone that enjoys energy spent on cognitive function. That is in distinction to the glitz, the trivia, the little thin crust of the conversation so many have with texts and with other social media glimpses that barely touch on anything that could be defined as intellectual. I suppose the human being is inherently lazy. An object that stays at rest continues to stay at rest. This is what I see so much of in this country, even coming from the cerebral hemispheres of people who are college educated with degrees and who seem in everyday conversation to certainly not be in the category of ignorant or naive.
And yet, to have verbal interaction with the next door neighbor about how could he possibly equate the criminality of the Republican Party under the Trump administration with his dislike of comma Harris. And instead of voting to keep Trump out of office, he would write in his dog's name as his candidate of choice.
How do you have a discussion with someone that said they work for the CIA and that appears to be highly educated and who tosses out the words "Jesus" and Christ repeatedly and yet in the same sentence praises Trump as being one of the greatest presidents of this country?
To that man above and the many other pseudo-Christians, I speak out as a Jew, circumcised and bar mitzvahed just like Jesus was, to say, just like Marshall McLuhan would say in Annie Hall, "you know nothing of my work."
Words have meaning, words have power, and yet the words uttered from the cesspool of Donald Trump's upper orifice were ignored again and again.
America and Americans, the way you make your bed is how you sleep in it. Many of you have truly been blind or ignorant or have had self-interests that have led you to follow or even extol this villainous creature. This must be an expression of a pathologic family unit or assorted educational system. I hope we can find our way in this country and, learn our lessons.