Corruption of the language seems to be surrounding us as never before.
On one front, we see how the transgender lobby is selling the snake oil of “gender identity.” This insists that being female and male does not exist in physical reality, but only in our minds. So at root, it’s not really an agenda about gender per se or equality. It’s an agenda to corrupt the language and every single person’s perception of reality. You will see this become more prevalent if “Leelah’s Law” — a reaction to the recent suicide of a transgender youth — is pushed. I hope to write more about it, but the idea is to ban any counseling for kids that doesn’t affirm transgenderism. Under the guise that it only bans something called “conversion therapy.”
On another related front, we can see how the push to control language is causing mayhem globally. After the massacre at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, there is a new debate about the limits of free speech. The magazine publishes a lot of content hostile to religion – all religions – but the killings were based only on its depictions of the prophet Mohammed.
At The Federalist Sean Davis reminds us How CS Lewis Predicted Charlie Hebdo Censorship:
Western news organizations are falling all over themselves to censor images that raise the ire of violent terrorists, and C.S. Lewis predicted their exact behavior over 70 years ago when he published “ The Abolition of Man, ” his treatise on how the corruption of language leads inevitably to the corruption of mind and soul.
When we allow language to be so manipulated that it distorts reality, that puts civilization itself on the path to suicide. I love the way CJ Ciaramella leads his article, also at the Federalist: “Everything you Need to Know about Voxsplaining the Charlie Hebdo Massacre:”
Sometime in the Paleolithic past, one guy said to his friends, “Hey, have you ever noticed how small Steve the Chief’s brow is? Look at me, I’m Steve No-Brow.” Everyone laughed, then Steve the Chief caved the guy’s head in with a rock. Human affairs with regards to unauthorized satire remained the same for the next 100,000 years or so, with the only difference being who was holding the biggest rock.
So how do you balance free speech with irresponsible speech? The answer lies in something we call “Civil Society." It subsists upon a common uncorrupted language and agreement to allow the free exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, civil society is ceding authority to the corruption of language enforced by political correctness. If civil society is ever to be rebuilt, PC must be resisted and always fought.
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