Bookworm:
George Orwell understood that good language clarifies and bad language corrupts. He’d moved amongst Communists, so he understood how controlling people requires controlling language. One cannot fully erase ideas if the language to express them still exists — so one changes the language. In 1984, Orwell envisioned an Auschwitz-like world (“arbeit macht frei”) that takes old words and perverts their meaning so much that they become meaningless. He called this linguistic world “double think”:
“The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them… To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.”
The three most famous examples of double think from 1984 are, of course, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.
Democrat Joe Manchin has flung himself with total abandonment into the world of double think. In an interview on Fox News, Manchin vows to continue the fight to put limits on Americans’ rights to possess and use guns. During that interview, he collapses into an Orwellian double think heap:
In late March 2013, 17 year old De’Marquis Elkins shot and killed
a 13 month old baby who was sitting in a stroller.
Elkins shot the infant in the face after the mother refused to give him money.
He also shot the mother in the leg and the neck in Brunswick, GA.
De’Marquis Elkins is not a member of the NRA.
He did not use an assault rifle.
He did not get his stolen pistol from a gun show.
His favorite music is rap.
He did not attend Christian school, nor was he home schooled.
He did attend multicultural public education,
and was not instructed in the Ten Commandments.
His Momma was on welfare, got food stamps, and lived in public housing.
His daddy was not around, and his two brothers have a different daddy.
He already has a record for violent crimes.
He is gang member.
His mom, grandma, and Aunty all voted for Obama.
He never earned his hunter safety card, nor did he shoot CMP,
Junior NRA, or 4H Air Rifle Competitions.
He was never instructed in gun safety from his father or grandfather.
His public education and family taught him that the white man owes him something.
He went to collect it.
He has no plans on getting married, but does have a Baby Momma, and no,
he is not supporting her baby.
He smokes dope.
He does respect Kayne West.
While he has no job, nor is looking for one, he is well fed.
He has no skills outside of crime.
He speaks Ebonics, and is not capable of doing a professional
interview, even though he spent 11 years in public education.
He is one of millions.
This is what we are up against. Make no mistake that people like
Elkins will have their guns. There are people wanting to deny
you the right to arm yourself. Your tax dollars are paying for
the continuation of a system that breeds pieces of shit like this one.