Cultural Marxism’s Liturgical Language

American Conservative ^ | January 21, 2020 | Rod Dreher

[C19fan]

Last night I was reading a short book by the French historian Alain Besançon in which he takes stock of the meaning of Nazism and Communism, in part by comparing the two totalitarianisms. This paragraph jumped out at me:

The psychological state of the militant is distinguished by his fanatical investment in the system. This central vision reorganizes his entire intellectual and perceptual field, all the way to the periphery. Language is transformed: it is no longer used to communicate or express, but to conceal a contrived continuity between the system and reality. Ideological language is charged with the magical role of forcing reality to conform to a particular vision of the world. It is a liturgical language for which every utterance points to its speaker’s adherence to the system, and it summons the interlocutor to adhere as well. Code words thus constitute threats and figures of power.

The “liturgical language” of intersectionality and Social Justice is familiar to many of us. I was thinking in particular about federal judge Kyle Duncan’s ruling the other day in which he refused a request by a trans prisoner to call him by his preferred female pronoun. The judge noted several problems with the request, and ended by saying he would not involve the federal courts in causing the kind of legal and procedural mess that would logically follow from adopting this practice. Among yappy others, the WaPo’s Ruth Marcus whined about the ruling in print, (tl;dr: “Kyle Duncan is MEAN!”), but the caravan rolls on.

[C19fan]

Stealing from the Instapundit, "1984" was a warning not a guidebook.

[Borges]

George Orwell died 70 years ago today.

[PGalt]

Calm down, Rod. Have a cup of Orwellian coffee.
Small=Tall
Medium=Grande
Large=Venti
XLarge=Triente
Merry Christmas =Merry Starbucks

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[MacNaughton]