Posted on 03/14/2012 5:36:22 AM PDT by SJackson
Editor’s note: More information on the unholy alliance’s campaign to silence critics of the jihadi threat can be found in David Horowitz and Robert Spencer’s pamphlet, “Islamophobia: Thought Crime of the Totalitarian Future,” available in our bookstore.
For a person like me who learned English as a second language, the current trend of inventing new meanings for words is a disturbing phenomenon. Our vocabulary is transforming, particularly in politics, where the new interpretation of news and events is distorted to adversely affect reality.
It started with our government demanding that we stop using certain words and specifying alternates. “Overseas contingency operation.” “Man-caused disaster.” “Anti-Islamic activity.” These are the terms currently required by our administration for the “global war on terror,” “terrorism,” and “Islamic terrorism.” At times, “freedom fighters” has been used for “terrorists.” The new expressions are vague to the point of meaninglessness and don’t convey the facts.
These phrases appear in internal government memos, as well as media articles, preventing the public from being properly informed. A new edition of the lexicon might also include euphemisms for serial killers and serial rapists as “man-caused afflictions” or “uninvited shoppers” for shoplifters.
An official memo from the National Counterterrorism Communication Center directs the replacement of “terrorists” with vague words like “extremists” or “totalitarians.” Officials are to “refrain from using so-called harsh words or Arabic words with Islamic consequence.” Instead they are to use generic terms without specific emphasis. Why? Terrorists attack us and we should not use harsh words? The word “jihad” is used by the radicals themselves, why can’t we use it? Going one step further, the government has drafted official guidelines in the publication “Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims, a guide for U.S. Government Officials.”
In addition, the government has required corporations, state, federal and various other agencies to hold “sensitivity training” for dealing with the Muslim community. We have never had such requirements. We seemed to get along with people of other faiths. Any opposition expressed to the Muslim community is considered an attack. What happened to free speech?
Is there a problem with truth and facts and, most importantly, with the appropriate use of the English language? The government instructed us to use “undocumented immigrant” instead of “illegal alien.” They are not synonymous. The word “illegal” means against the law and punishable by law. Our obligation is to follow the law and promote lawful behavior. Using the new expressions confuses the facts. Why are we afraid to tell the truth? How can we correct something if we cannot describe it properly? Does “uninvited shopper” mean the same as “shoplifter”? Hardly.
Now we learn that the Defense Department has reclassified the Fort Hood massacre as “workplace violence.” The incident had nothing to do with Major Hasan’s work or the workplace. This mass murderer was shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he fired and killed thirteen innocent people. On his private business cards under his name was printed, “Soldier of Allah.”
Radical Islamists use our constitutional freedoms to sabotage our system of government from the inside. Sen. Susan Collins suggested on December 7, 2011 that the Defense Department classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence seems to place political correctness above the security of the nation’s armed forces at home.
On 9/11 we were attacked, yet people who are critical about Islam are called “Islamophobes.” The truth must be known — there is no such thing as Islamophobia. The definition of “phobia” is an irrational fear. However, our fear of Islam is very real as a result of 9/11, coupled with the constant barrage of anti-Western sentiments expressed by Muslim leaders. It is imperative that we listen to them and not ignore them.
Ever wonder where the term “Islamophobia” came from?
According to a FrontPage Magazine column posted by Robert Spencer on Dec. 30, 2011, it was deliberately invented by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT), based in Northern Virginia.
Abhdur-Rahman Muhammad, a former member of the IIIT describes the strategy behind the word’s invention:
In an effort to silence critics of political Islam, advocates needed to come up with terminology that would enable them to portray themselves as victims. Muhammad said he was present years ago when his then allies, meeting at the offices of the IIIT… coined the term “Islamophobia.”
Consider the power of this word, how the media exploits it and how politicians fear it.
Back in 1907, Teddy Roosevelt was correct when he spoke about the significance of language and of being an American:
We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.
While these words were said over a century ago, they are equally relevant in 2012. However, omnipresent political correctness today prevents us from endorsing these views. Here in the U.S., English has been the official language, yet we are sadly questioning its virtue.
Columnist Michael M. Bates summarizes the large role that language plays in our society – and, for that matter, any society:
Our common language is a basis for our cultural unity. For folks wishing to advance here, knowledge of it is essential. We do immigrants no favors by bending over backwards trying to accommodate them in their native language, hindering their adapting to a new culture.
No other country allows immigrants, foreigners, misfits and anti-government interests to dictate policy.
It was comical and somewhat ridiculous when many years ago the “trash collectors” became “sanitation engineers” and “undertakers” became “funeral directors.” Just recently, in 2011, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, turned the Christmas tree into “holiday tree” to appease atheists. It is getting more absurd every day. In the book “The Language Police” by Diane Ravitch, the author describes the deliberate distortions and omission of certain words required by our political leaders in education. Now it seems, we will have to abide by the thought police or the truth police.
The expression “politically correct” was born in the late 1900s. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary describes it as “language or behavior that deliberately tries to avoid offending particular groups of people.” We should obviously not aim to offend, but we need to be clear. Honesty and clarity are the only ways to convey the truth.
Young people are our future, we need to engage them in truth and facts, not deception.
In June 2011, Federal District Judge Fred Biery issued an order to stop a San Antonio school’s valedictorian from saying the word “prayer” as part of the graduation speech. He ordered the school district to remove the words “invocation” and “benediction” from the graduation program to be replaced with “opening remarks” and “closing remarks.” Fortunately, the ban was reversed, and the school administrators didn’t have to act as the speech police.
I just learned that a real estate office directed its agents not to use the phrase “within walking distance,” and to replace it with “nearby” so as not to offend those who may have trouble walking. Where has our sense of reality gone?
Political correctness is damaging our nation and freedom. We must present clarity and enforce our laws to better protect our country. This begins with guarding English as our language of identity.
Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.
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Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: http://frontpagemag.com
URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/14/where-has-all-the-english-gone/
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I do not have Islamophobia, fear of islam.
I have Islamodium, hatred of islam.
Not the people, but the politico-religious system devised by a sand pirate pedophile, slave trader, evil tyrant, and genocidal savage, spread by threat of force throughout the regions it currently occupies.
Even a reasonable fear cannot be characterized as a “phobia”,
and it’s reasonable to have a fear of a savage, violent, dominion oriented culture.
We have a media and hollywierd completely infested with communist vermin and their distortion of the English language by their propaganda word-smiths is just one of their tools to destroy this society.
Gays are really SSAD (same sex attraction disorder). There is no such thing as Islamophobia as to be afraid of the lowest of sub-humans who have TOLD us they want to kill us is certainly not a phobia. Pro-Choice is really pro-baby killing. The list is almost endless.
We have come to a point where everything coming from the media or hollywierd must be challenged as more than likely they have altered the narrative to hide their communist agenda.
Article is double plus good.
The same people who tell us it is unreasonable to fear Islamic terrorism and refer to the Ft. Hood massacre as “workplace violence” shiver in fear at the mention of “AGW” or as they now call it climate change. This is really absurd considering that climate change is a natural phenomenon that never ceases and only a fool would deny it yet what they really mean by climate change is Man Made Global Warming, something which does not and has not ever existed. They realize now that they sound absurd so they switch to climate change and refer to all who don’t believe their global warming crap as “climate change deniers”.
During the little ice age people burned “Witches” who were blamed for the cold weather, at least they were blaming them for something real, the current crowd of witch burners would wreck the world economy and send us back to the middle ages to combat something which is not even happening.
Oh, but we are racist evil right wingers for using words like Islamic terror? This is the liberal language of minimizing left wing terror and attacking anyone against such as right wing terrorists.
Christianophobia, anyone? I hope not to be spoiled by such language in the future.
Good point, like the non-existent war on women. The whole causeless objective is demoralization beyond politics. No, soon we will not be able to talk proudly, we all will be living in the politics of the “5 minute hate session”
Albeit, the late George Carlin was a lefty, but he hit the nail on the head, when it comes to the subject of manipulating the language:
“I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms, or euphemistic language.
And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation.
For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I’ll give you an example of that. There’s a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.
In the first world war, that condition was called Shell Shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, Shell Shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago.
Then a whole generation went by and the Second World War came along and very same combat condition was called Battle Fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell Shock! Battle Fatigue.
Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called Operational Exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.
Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it Shell Shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.”
“Man-caused disaster.”
As woman, I am angry. Why do men get all the credit?
Why not “Woman-caused disaster?”
JEEEEEESSSSH!!!!!
:)
(Now let me read the rest of the article. I only got that far.)
By the way, whatever happened with the Ft. Hood shooting incident?
Language is the expression of thought, and language manipulation is one form of mind control. That is what is coming out of that black rectangle we stare at and it is quietly wrapping chains around our ankles.
“Where Has All the English Gone?”
Gone to islam, most every one.
” It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap”
The 1,000 yard stare is a sure sign of it. My dad’s AAA unit in WWII had a guy assigned to it who was suffering from shell shock. The rumor was that he was one of the ‘malingerers’ who incurred George Patton’s wrath and had been booted out of a field hospital. It didn’t take long to conclude that he really was a mental wreck and he was shipped back.
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