Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: Olog-hai
I would say they care about redefining it, of course. This is what they are doing.

I appreciate your Orwell quote (I've read the book literally dozens of times), but would like to point out that, in the case at hand, the goal is to limit freedom not by reducing the vocabulary, but rather by constantly expanding it - to the point where intelligible discourse (and even thought) become arduous and/or nearly impossible.

Imagine, if you will, the near impossibility of substituting a good, meaningful English sentence like

"Independent, hardscrabble yeoman farmers are the backbone of American society; to deny them their Right to bear arms would emasculate the Nation."

with some "Politically Correct" version.

Of course, it would be possible to "translate" the individual words - but much power and meaning would be lost, and the Language Police themselves are working to continually sanction previously acceptable words (q.v. "gentleman of color," "Colored," "Negro," "Black," "Afro-American," "African-American," "Person of Color") and re-draw lines so that the average speaker has to be constantly on guard about expressing himself.

Regards,

13 posted on 10/28/2017 1:30:50 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies ]


To: alexander_busek

Well, like Newspeak, the new words are out to destroy the old and to narrow the thinking.


26 posted on 10/28/2017 6:59:44 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson