Here’s the Newspeak Orwell envisioned:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
For a primer on this language, check out this Wikipedia article. As you read it, pay particular attention to “Blackwhite.” Indeed, I’ll help you by quoting from Orwell right now:
…this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink.
Have you got this firmly fixed in your mind? Do you recognize the socialist habit of putting a bass ackward spin on readily understood concepts, and embracing this manifest falsity for the Party benefit, embracing it so strongly that, for as long as the party needs it, it wipes out objective reality?
Good. Now read what Nancy Pelosi said about her trip to a terrible dictatorship, one that is one of the world’s major terror exporters, and one that is on the United States list of forbidden regimes — a keep in mind that this was a trip that the White House strongly advised against:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deflecting White House criticism of her trip to Syria, said Friday she thinks the mission helped President Bush because it showed the United States is unified against terrorism despite being divided over the Iraq war. Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus earlier this week, against the president’s wishes.
“Our message was President Bush’s message,” Pelosi said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Portugal, where she stopped briefly en route back to the United States.
“The funny thing is, I think we may have even had a more powerful impact with our message because of the attention that was called to our trip,” the California Democrat said. “It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive.”
Bush earlier in the week assailed Pelosi for making the trip to Damascus, saying it sent mixed messages to the Syrian government, which his administration considers to be a state supporter of terrorism.
Back is white. Evil is good. Treason is patriotic.
You go, Nancy girl! While those already in your camp may be incapable of restoring colors (i.e., black and white) to their true values, my hope is that the vast number of reasonable Americans, reading your doublespeak nonsense, will begin to appreciate that the current crop of Congressional Democrats is not, collectively, practicing good citizenship.
UPDATE: It occurred to me that Pelosi’s approach to facts probably saw her function very well in Saudi Arabia. This month’s Atlantic has a long article (only a part of which you can see online if you’re not a subscriber), discussing the prevalence of homosexuality in Saudi Arabia (something scarcely surprising when you consider the complete gender segregation in that country). It turns out that, although homosexuality is technical subject to the death penalty, the way around the deathly proscription is to define yourself out of homosexuality altogether. That is, you’re not homosexual if (a) you say you’re not and (b) you’re not the half of the couple on the receiving end of the act. Within these finely drawn lines, the fact that two men are engaging in a sexual act becomes irrelevant.
Frankly, since I have no truck with criminalizing homosexuality, I’m glad that gays in Saudi Arabia have figured out a way to live their lives without fear of death. Nevertheless, I find it telling the lengths to which repressive regimes and their citizens have to go to avoid the truth and effect of their own rules and reality.
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The Atlantic article is stunning! Read it at the library if you don’t subscribe.
Nancy Pelosi is an embarrassment. Her gift to the nation is going to be the gradual revelation of the complete bankruptcy of the left. She is on her way to being so comprehensive that even the dullards who spend their days watching TV and eating Cheetos are going to get it.
Thanks, Nancy!
You have “no truck with criminalizing homosexuality”? What are you saying? Is that English? I looked up the word “truck” in Websters and found nothing that would work in your sentance. Instictively I think it means “problem”, which would make you pre-enlightenment, and likely paranoid too.
How can you quote Orwell, who cared so deeply about language and then smutz all over it.
It is English. Here’s one website that discusses its meaning and origin, and reflects a fine and honorable English expression going back to Shakespeare’s time.
[...] [Discover This Topic With Bookworm] [...]
You go, Nancy girl! While those already in your camp may be incapable of restoring colors (i.e., black and white) to their true values, my hope is that the vast number of reasonable Americans, reading your doublespeak nonsense, will begin to appreciate that the current crop of Congressional Democrats is not, collectively, practicing good citizenship.
That’s it Book, Nancy can only combine two contradictory positions? Come on, give me a break here. Everyone knows a true master can combine at least 5 contradictory ideas into one consistent whole without even thinking about it. Nancy’s a pure amateur obviously.
I looked up the word “truck” in Websters and found nothing that would work in your sentance.
I can’t remember, but I seem to get a sense that I’ve heard this before in the south. It does seem to be misleading, though from Book’s link it usually just means “traffic”. Truck also being a vehicle, that might be easier to remember.
It seemed to have combined the two. A wheel that barters goods (commerce)… by transfering them.
But is this “way to live their lives” necessarily a good thing, Bookworm? The implication seems to be that there would be nowhere near as many homosexuals if the relations betweens the sexes weren’t so schizophrenic in Islamic society.
Bookworm,
you must be despairing of your readership over this post; first, for the benefit of previous commentors, to “truck with” or “have truck with” is a Britishism meaning engaging in commerce with–hence the term “truck farm”, which does not mean the farming of trucks, but one whose produce is meant for sale; and by the extention offered by metaphor, it is an intellectual or ideational relation. To truck with is to associate with or align oneself with.
Second, the main point of your effort here–splendidly accomplished–is to show the 1984-ish character of public discourse coming from the Left. I have been noticing the same for some time. It is prima facia evidence that Orwell, as a man of the left, had first hand, inside knowledge of the kind of people and ideology he was talking about. The trajectory of socialism/communism and its modern variants is as unmistakable as its techniques are recognizable–mainly saying and doing anything to put forward the agenda, summed up in modern parlance in the pop phrase, “are you going to believe me, or your own lying eyes?
oops…didnt see your dictionary link for the meaning of “truck”
Well, so truck may have evolved from a verb into a noun (although they suggest two possible origins) unlike ‘hand’ which evolved from a noun into a verb.
Here goes:
Don’t hand me that double speak or by rights I shall have truck with the ninja way.
Perhaps the NYSE should adopt the motto “keep on trucking.”
I am disappointed with Bush, I keep thinking he must have a strategy. It seems like now is the time to strike hard against the Congress, his little press conferences are only encouraging them. A lot of Americans are mad that the Democrats want to cut and run, we’d be happy to turn our anger on the Congress.
Bush may not be the most clever of spy/assassin masters (okay, he isn’t one at all). Bush may have problems with forceful power projection abroad and at home. Bush also seems to have problems of the spirit and with alacrity, in that too much compassion corrupts the spirit with weakness and slowness. The one thing Bush has though, even though he lacks power, cunning, and speed, is stamina.
Bush’s stonewall technique, has a curious strength. The harder you hit the stonewall, the more pain the wall inflicts on you. The light B slaps the Democrats have been giving Bush is nothing to stone, even though over time weather, wind, and water slaps will wear stone away even if stone will not recognize this or try to stop it. For Bush’s fighting technique to truly shine, the stonewall must be hit by its enemies with the power of a tsunami. Only then will stone show its power. Otherwise, it mostly acts inert and dead.
Mullah Cimoc say him ameriki so hypocrite.
him so wicked and cruel for watch zionist media control tv show and get so stupid every day.
him say him christian but never read him bible.
him christ him teach forgiving. so many usa ameriki people say i am christian but not christian-just fake it for lie and love money and the torture. also the new refrigerator and 7-11 cheese nachos.
for this all ameriki society destroy and the ameriki child girl she taking shot for destroy the reproduction organs. and usa government this forcing.
Very funny stuff Mullah Cimoc. I am a big fan of your work! You must be a little bit annoyed at Borat for borrowing your act.
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