Making suitable adjustments for nuance at the edges, how we publicly remember and mourn the past is a function of the words we have to talk about it. Linguistic invention and destruction happen all the time, of course, but happen slowly and jarringly.
As Orwell knew, losing a word very often means losing the concept that goes with it. Last year we wrote about the Orwellian underpinnings of the term "anti-Semitism". It was created out of whole cloth by German racists who wanted to make institutionalized Jew hatred seem respectable and scientific. And they more or less won - "anti-Semitism" is how you label Jew hatred in English.
We've also talked a little local and global campaigns to dilute even the term "anti-Semitism".
And just in case you were willing to consider that these campaigns are the result of innocent linguistic naivety: Bill Poser over at Language Log has caught one in a moment of startling and unintentional honesty.
Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric...
Reliapundit adds: Great post and great links. It makes me think: PC is Big Brother's little sister! It also makes me think that we could re-title this post: "FIRST THEY COME FOR THE NOUNS!"
As Orwell knew, losing a word very often means losing the concept that goes with it. Last year we wrote about the Orwellian underpinnings of the term "anti-Semitism". It was created out of whole cloth by German racists who wanted to make institutionalized Jew hatred seem respectable and scientific. And they more or less won - "anti-Semitism" is how you label Jew hatred in English.
We've also talked a little local and global campaigns to dilute even the term "anti-Semitism".
And just in case you were willing to consider that these campaigns are the result of innocent linguistic naivety: Bill Poser over at Language Log has caught one in a moment of startling and unintentional honesty.
Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric...
Reliapundit adds: Great post and great links. It makes me think: PC is Big Brother's little sister! It also makes me think that we could re-title this post: "FIRST THEY COME FOR THE NOUNS!"
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