mockingbird
Silver Meritorious Patron
I have since leaving Scientology been presented with LOTS of info on influence , propaganda and loaded language etc.
I have realized that in Scientology there was a TREMENDOUS amount of redefiniton and control via double think .
I have found that guys who study language and its influence on thought - like Confucius , Lao Tzu , David S. Touretzky and Noam Chomsky and of course Orwell , Phillip K. Dick and the old guard writers who warned about the future - all seem to be wary of the same problem : covert control and influence through jingoism , symbols and the dreaded thought stopping cliche .
I can think of several terms SO loaded at this time as to have virtually no MEANING despite having great INFLUENCE .
I will give a few quick examples:From Wikipedia
In the 1946 essay Politics and the English Language George Orwell discussed the use of loaded language in political discourse.
The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another.
In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides.
It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning .End quote.
A few others - activist judges , big government , Card Check , class warfare , climate change (instead of global warming), conspiracy theory , conspiracy theorist , culture of life , cut and run , death panels , death tax , energy exploration (in place of oil drilling ) , enhanced interrogation , extraordinary rendition , family values , far Left , freedom , government-run health care, government-run health insurance, or government takeover of health care, job creators , judicial activism ,liberal media , liberty , patriot , tort reform (limiting personal injury and other lawsuit damages to benefit big corporations) , right to work , smaller government and less taxes .
Now in fairness not ALL these terms COMPLETELY lack any meaning but almost all are users of stereotypes or conclusion without examination to some degree to frame language and thereby thought .
They assert ideas without inspection as true by definition and trick a person into seeing things a certain way BEFORE the person even starts thinking or talking about them .
Now , this idea was expressed by Confucius and Lao Tzu and Orwell and many others .
My questions are how many words do we use without even thinking about it that function this way ?
Who is influencing things to be like this ? ( if anyone or several groups and if so to what ends ? )
And honestly what can be done about it , if anything ?
I have realized that in Scientology there was a TREMENDOUS amount of redefiniton and control via double think .
I have found that guys who study language and its influence on thought - like Confucius , Lao Tzu , David S. Touretzky and Noam Chomsky and of course Orwell , Phillip K. Dick and the old guard writers who warned about the future - all seem to be wary of the same problem : covert control and influence through jingoism , symbols and the dreaded thought stopping cliche .
I can think of several terms SO loaded at this time as to have virtually no MEANING despite having great INFLUENCE .
I will give a few quick examples:From Wikipedia
In the 1946 essay Politics and the English Language George Orwell discussed the use of loaded language in political discourse.
The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another.
In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides.
It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning .End quote.
A few others - activist judges , big government , Card Check , class warfare , climate change (instead of global warming), conspiracy theory , conspiracy theorist , culture of life , cut and run , death panels , death tax , energy exploration (in place of oil drilling ) , enhanced interrogation , extraordinary rendition , family values , far Left , freedom , government-run health care, government-run health insurance, or government takeover of health care, job creators , judicial activism ,liberal media , liberty , patriot , tort reform (limiting personal injury and other lawsuit damages to benefit big corporations) , right to work , smaller government and less taxes .
Now in fairness not ALL these terms COMPLETELY lack any meaning but almost all are users of stereotypes or conclusion without examination to some degree to frame language and thereby thought .
They assert ideas without inspection as true by definition and trick a person into seeing things a certain way BEFORE the person even starts thinking or talking about them .
Now , this idea was expressed by Confucius and Lao Tzu and Orwell and many others .
My questions are how many words do we use without even thinking about it that function this way ?
Who is influencing things to be like this ? ( if anyone or several groups and if so to what ends ? )
And honestly what can be done about it , if anything ?