Wednesday, April 4, 2007

NEWSPEAK TRIUMPHS, GEORGE ORWELL WOULD BE PROUD

The House Armed Services Committee is banishing the global war on terror from the 2008 defense budget. Democratic leadership doesn’t like the phrase.

When is the "War on G;obal Terrorism" not the War on Global Terrorism"? When it becomes Politically Incorrect. Ever since George Orwell coined the term "Newspeak" in the novel 1984, it has crept into real language. The most obvious example was when the "War Department" was renamed "The Department of Defence", little by little words no longer had meaning. Raise funding less than your opponents want and your accused of cutting funding. A tax increase becomes "Revenue Enhancement", you can find examples all around you.

Now instead of the "War on Global Terrorism" acceptable phrases include "the war in Iraq," the "war in Afghanistan, "operations in the Horn of Africa" or "ongoing military operations throughout the world." according to a Democratic memo.

As Margaret Thatcher might have said 'Words are becoming ‘Wobbly’ on us"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

But terrorism is a strategy. Can you have war on a strategy? I don't know, it seems like war as a metaphor (war on drugs, war on poverty, war on terror) is a bit newspeakish itself.

Anonymous said...

As terrorism is a strategy, “War on Terror,” is a metaphor. The term should be “War against Terrorists” War as a metaphor is Newspeak at it’s finest.