Before he died in January, Sir Roger Scruton wrote in the Daily Mail about his mission secretly educating people living under communist tyranny. He described being in Prague and “addressing a room of criminals whose ‘crimes’ consisted of uttering the wrong word.”
Controlling language is like “pawn to king four” in chess — a classic early move by would-be dictators — not that their efforts to police words and thoughts ever cease.
Watching television or reading about current affairs is a constant reminder of this. Politicians, whether they have been elected or have merely emerged from the mob, and news media constantly seek to shape perceptions of events and policies according to their opinions.
It’s therefore a good idea to know what is intended by their use of certain key words and phrases when you’re watching or reading the news, whether it be coverage of standard political hackery or of the violence and vandalism now afflicting our country.
Examples are legion, and a glossary within the short space of a column such as this can hardly scratch the surface. But here, in alphabetical order, are a dozen terms you’re bound to come across, accompanied by their modern meanings. They aren’t what you thought they were.
Brave: Parroting the latest left-wing ideas or acting on them without incurring any danger to one’s reputation. An EU commissioner recently described Twitter as “brave” for censoring President Trump. Silly you. You thought bravery meant accepting personal risk, as would have been the case if, for example, a New York Times staffer publicly agreed with Sen. Tom Cotton that the military should be used to subdue urban rioters.
Fair share: An arbitrarily determined portion of someone else’s income or wealth that, if you skate over economics and math, can be made to sound as though it will cover the vast cost of social programs promised by Democrats. President Barack Obama (2012) — “We don’t envy the wealthy, but we do expect everybody to do their fair share”; Joe Biden (2017) — We need a progressive tax structure where everyone “pays their fair share”; Bernie Sanders (2019) — “Make the wealthy pay their fair share”; Elizabeth Warren (2019) — “I want billionaires to stop being freeloaders … I want them to pick up their fair share.” People in the top 1% earn 19.7% of the nation’s annual income and pay 37.3% of all individual income taxes.
Free: Things paid for by someone else, as in free healthcare, free college, free food at demonstrations, and free stuff behind the windowpanes of Main Street stores.
Patriotism: Any expression of hatred or contempt for America, especially the incineration of our flag, once a unifying national symbol. Patriotism is most obvious in those who condemn the nation’s past wholesale, know its ideals are lies, and fight to consign the reputations of its beloved Founding Fathers to history’s ash heap.
Man: A human — at least, being human was still a prerequisite when this article went to press — who claims to be male. This has nothing to do with biological sex or having X and Y chromosomes rather than only X chromosomes. Men are just as able to menstruate, get pregnant, and exercise their right to have abortions.
Pig: A police officer of any race or either sex. Not to be confused with yahoos trying to provoke the police by screaming insults in their faces from a fraction of the 6-foot distance recommended by epidemiologists to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Pigs are not those who trash every district they occupy.
Protesters: A mob bent on destruction but given the heavy gloss of a legitimate cause by sympathetic left-liberal news organizations.
Racist: Anyone who won’t endorse Black Lives Matter or other organizations trying to foment Marxist revolution. Anyone who rejects the idea that America and all its institutions are “systemically” hostile to minorities.
Speech: Nonverbal violence in pursuit of a left-wing cause. The late, great jurist Robert Bork, arguing for the constitutionality of a flag-burning ban, made the lapidary observation that both words in the phrase “free speech” are vital to its meaning. The First Amendment, therefore, should protect words, not all acts of expression. The idea is that people should be able to speak their minds so they don’t express their political views by vandalizing statues, looting stores, and incinerating police precincts.
Talking points: Opinions contrary to one’s own that, not being conclusions arrived after thoughtful, good-faith consideration by intelligent people, can be dismissed without debate or evidence.
Violence: Free speech with which one disagrees.
Woman: Anyone who “identifies” as female. This may include men convicted of rape who, before sentencing, identify as women and so are sent to women’s prisons, where they can (and have) sexually assaulted other prisoners.
You will doubtless have your own list, but this one is perhaps a start.
