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Politics & Government

Doublespeak Doublethink and Insightful Orwellian Lessons from the Left

"Manufacturing Consent," George Orwell, and a range of sources explain how public opinion is subtly molded often without people realizing it

L. A. "Tony" Kovach's profile picture
L. A. "Tony" Kovach, Neighbor
Doublespeak Doublethink Insightful Orwellian Lessons from the left "Manufacturing Consent" Herman Chomsky George Orwell Range of Sources Explain How Public Opinion Swayed Often Without Realizing it. X-image credit, collage by L. A. "Tony" Kovach.
Doublespeak Doublethink Insightful Orwellian Lessons from the left "Manufacturing Consent" Herman Chomsky George Orwell Range of Sources Explain How Public Opinion Swayed Often Without Realizing it. X-image credit, collage by L. A. "Tony" Kovach. (DoublespeakDoublethinkInsightfulOrwellianLessonsFromLeftManufacturingConsentHermanChomskyGeorgeOrwellRangeofSourcesExplainHowPublicOpinionSu)

According to left-leaning Wikipedia (bold emphasis added): “The term "doublespeak" derives from two concepts in George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, "doublethink" and "Newspeak", despite the term itself not being used in the novel.[4] Another version of the term, "doubletalk," also referring to intentionally ambiguous speech, did exist at the time Orwell wrote his book, but the usage of "doublespeak", as well as of "doubletalk", in the sense of emphasizing ambiguity, clearly predates the publication of the novel.[5][6] Parallels have also been drawn between doublespeak and Orwell's classic essay, Politics and the English Language, which discusses linguistic distortion for purposes related to politics.[7] In the essay, he observes that political language often serves to distort and obscure reality. Orwell's description of political speech is extremely similar to the popular definition of the term, doublespeak:[8]”

Part of the purpose of this series of articles on this Patch is to inform locals and Americans more broadly about certain realities in our society that are often misunderstood or obscured.

A few days ago, we explored paltering, posturing, and projecting and how that relates to what the Capital Research Center (CRC) insightfully calls "Deception and Misdirection." In another post, South African born author Hanne Nabintu Herland explained how Aldus Huxley's work can provide insight and guidance to us today.

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Now, we are ready to probe more usefully what George Orwell and others had to say about doublethink, doublespeak and how they impact and form our thinking and society in the 21st century. As a reminder or disclosure, I'm a political independent and haven't been registered with any political party for a dozen years. I think it useful, perhaps even vital, to understand the good, bad, and ugly from the various camps of U.S. politics. Much of today's insights will be from the left, because George Orwell and several of those cited will be from the political left. Our U.S. media, as the third-party illustrations linked here indicates, can also be viewed through the lens of which part of the political spectrum a 'major' publication happens to be, be it either left or right leaning.

Wikipedia said (bold emphasis added):

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“The writer Edward S. Herman cited what he saw as examples of doublespeak and doublethink in modern society.[9] Herman describes in his book, Beyond Hypocrisy, the principal characteristics of doublespeak:

"What is really important in the world of doublespeak is the ability to lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don’t fit an agenda or program.[10]”

..."Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky comment in their book Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media that Orwellian doublespeak is an important component of the manipulation of the English language in American media, through a process called dichotomization, a component of media propaganda involving "deeply embedded double standards in the reporting of news.""

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, said Wikipedia, "introduced the propaganda model of communication, which is still developing today."

"The propaganda model describes the pillars of society (the public domain, business firms, media organizations, governments etc.) as first and foremost, profit-seekers.[14]"

The openly pro-socialist (i.e.: left-leaning) Jacobin said that George "Orwell was, until his death, a democratic socialist profoundly identified with the working class..."

Danny D. Leybzon, via Medium, also said Orwell was a socialist: “The author strongly believed that it was possible to both have strongly leftist views and be critical of an autocratic and authoritarian regime.”

Herman and Chomsky have arguably correctly been deemed leftists. But whatever someone's own political viewpiont, Herman and Chomsky have potentially helped our society better understand that speech and writing can be used in appealing ways that may seem sincere, but are in fact veiled efforts to manipulate others for 'profit seeking' motives.

From Part II of an article linked here on MHProNews is this about linguist William Lutz and Doublespeak.

1) William Lutz is the author of Doublespeak. According to the Internet Archive,

In this seminal book, Lutz articulates that the goal of doublespeak is “to distort reality and corrupt thought.” Doublespeak is the language of non-responsibility, carefully constructed to appear to communicate when it fact it doesn’t. In this lively and eye-opening expose, originally published in 1989, linguist William Lutz identifies the four most common types of doublespeak—euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook or “bureaucratese,” and inflated language—showing how each is used in business, advertising, medicine, government, and the military. In this seminal book, Lutz articulates that the goal of doublespeak is “to distort reality and corrupt thought.”

2) The video interview below with CSPAN is insightful and condenses down several of the key points.


A free Internet Archive version of Lutz’s still insightful book is also posted at this link here.

Note that it is Lutz who said that politicians, government officials, business and advertisers use Orwellian doublespeak to mislead listeners/viewers/readers. While that was 45 years ago, that doesn’t mean that this is now outdated. Rather, it reveals how long such practices have been occurring in the offices of certain firms, organizations, politicos and others.

The remarks quoted below with a video was posted 2 months ago. It uses some of the same notions mentioned above, but also uses clips from George Orwell’s classic dystopian cautionary novel, Nineteen Eighty Four (1984). Recall that Orwell has been described by some as a disillusioned socialist. The X-post or tweet is entitled:

Orwell’s Warning: The Insidious Nature of Political Language posted by The Machiavellians.

That video violates one of the Patch's guidelines by using an 8 letter word, but can be viewed free here.

So, Orwellian DoubleSpeak, per Oxford Languages, means to: "deliberately euphemistic, ambiguous, or obscure language."

That same source defined DoubleThink (bolded emphasis added) as: "the acceptance of or mental capacity to accept contrary opinions or beliefs at the same time, especially as a result of political indoctrination."

If someone 'grows up' immersed in DoubleSpeak, DoubleThink, paltering, posturing, projecting, "deception and misdirection" it may not even bother someone that what they are hearing, viewing, or reading is contradictory. That is especially true of someone hasn't learned 'critical' or analytical thinking skills. The College for Creative Studies cited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who put it like this: "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

While the example is said to be overused, it is useful to understand what Orwell and others saw in the rise of Adolf Hitler's Nazi era in Germany. Keep in mind that Nazi meant National Socialist German Workers Party, and thus was from the political left (something Wikipedia arguably gets wrong). By immersing the population in propaganda, it was possible in a large measure to mesmerize and mobilize the German population. The Nazis were fascists and socialists.

What is fascism? According to remarks attributed to Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini: "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." While some dispute that attribution to Mussolini, what is difficult to deny is that Mussolini at a minimum made similar statements.

When we consider what Hanne Nabintu Herland had to say in her warning about the nexus of big tech, big corporate and big governmental power, that's an informed voice pointing out how the left is oddly but demonstrably working with big corporate power and big government.

Herland: ‘Aldous Huxley Interview-Tech, Big Gov, Big Biz=Grave Danger’

Herland views are similar to a millennial voice from the right, Justin Haskins with the Heartland Institute. Haskins said the following.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

Let's give these insights a practical and recent example.

We recently saw Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris tell Oprah Winfrey a statement that seemed like an example of doublespeak and doublethink.

Kamala to Oprah-If Somebody Breaks Into My House They're Getting Shot

As Harris laughingly noted in the video posted on that page, one of her aides has already tried to clean up her apparently contradictory and hypocritical remarks by saying Kamala was joking.

But if it was a jest, then why did she say her aides wouldn't like it? Why would Oprah be shocked by a remark meant only humorously?

Harris is trying to pivot from a record that is closely joined to that of Joe Biden (D), because she dozens of tie breaking votes in the U.S. Senate in favor of legislation that gave us the inflation, higher mortgage rates, higher groceries and food costs, not to mention record illegal immigration. Who said that Harris cast the most tie-breaking votes? The left-leaning New York Times, which editorially prefers her over her rival, the 45th President of the United States (POTUS) Donald J. Trump (R).

The Harris-Walz (D) campaign rips Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (OH-R) for having billionaire and corporate backers. They are demonstrably correct in saying that Trump-Vance have billionaire backers, including one of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk.

But what Harris and Walz do not say is that they have more corporate and billionaire backers than Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (OH-R) have. That is how paltering, posturing, projecting, "deception and misdirection" can work. The Democratic candidates celebrated that they have 88 corporate leaders publicly backing them. That is doublethink and doublespeak in action. Who said? Among others, sources like left-leaning MSN.

This isn't new. For years, Democrats have had more financial support from billionaires and big money than have Republicans for years. Who said? Former Democrats Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy very specifically said at about the 7-minute mark that the big money interests have given money to Democrats at about a 2 to 3 to 1 ratio over Republicans for some years. When Kennedy first began his run in 2023, he did so as Democrat who railed against the obvious hypocrisy and threats that wealth united to governmental power posed to the masses of Americans. He specifically said his campaign would focus on 'the corrupt merger of state and corporate power threatening a new feudalism in the U.S.A.' With so much big money, big media, big corporate power backing Biden-Harris, of course they didn't want Kennedy in the race. When party insiders tried to thwart Kennedy's campaign, he publicly called the party's leadership out for censorship, corporate influence, and denying personal rights.

But it isn't just empty words from Gabbard or Kennedy. Their allegations are supported by leftist billionaire George Soros funded Open Secrets.

That insightful quote above by leftist actor and activist Danny Glover is from the award-winning docu-drama Shadows of Liberty. I can't encourage people enough to watch the full length documentary, then read the transcript, then watch the documentary again. It is that insightful. The full length version takes swats and figures in both major parties. I've watched the Shadows of Liberty video multiple times, and each time I do, another penetrating insight comes to light.

Look carefully at what Glover said. "It's not only a monopoly of wealth; it's a monopoly of information as well." The "monopoly" over much (not all) sources of information, routinely corporate owned and supported by corporate ads, are part of that propaganda model that Herman and Chomsky spoke about in their book, Manufacturing Consent. An echo chamber is created where similar thoughts and often similar wording are heard over and over so that it seems believable.

That is the nexus of corporate and governmental power.

Adam McKay insightfully remarked that the definition of fascism in Webster's dictionary changed in recent decades.

Millions of Americans are in the process of 'awakening' to these realities.

Musk is a self-described moderate Democrat. He has warned against the dangers of a Harris-Walz administration.

The following was retweeted by Musk.

The following were posted by Musk.

As a quick background to the post below, Javier Milei is known as a Trump-like figure who became the president of Argentina. Milei has dramatically cut inflation, business is flourishing. Incomes are up, previously high inflationary prices are being tamed. Some demonized Milei, just as some demonize Trump.

Another Surprising Ex-Democrat

The oddity is that Trump is an ex-Democrat, who is being supported by ex-Democrats like former Congressional Representative Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard was a prior Democratic presidential. While in Congress, per Wikipedia: "she served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016, and resigned to endorse Bernie Sanders' campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination."

Gabbard said she has policy differences with Trump, but she strongly believes that the threat to democracy is from the leftists like Harris-Walz.

Note that because Gabbard left the "Democratic Party" reservation by challenging Hillary Clinton (via Sanders support in 2016) or by challenging Kamala Harris in 2019. Gabbard was demonized by members of her own party. So, it isn't just Republicans who are demonized by Democratic insiders. It can be other Democrats who are not marching in lockstep with their leaders, which is the apparent case of Gabbard and Kennedy.

The left has historically demonized or smear their opponents. Leftist leaders routinely can't stand up and defend their records or their thinking. So instead, they demonize or use what award winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson called "The Smear." It is an apparently Orwellian method, like the novel 1984's "Two Minutes of Hate."

Keep repeating the same thing over and over again, and people will come to believe it, even if it is not true. Per Edward Herman, co-author of Manufacturing Consent, is this quote.

Chomsky's insights should be applied to Harris 'opportunity economy' campaign of "hope" and "joy." Who is against opportunity? Who opposes hope or joy? But applying Chomsky's point to Kamala Harris, 'hope, joy, and opportunity' don't actually deal with the realities that she and Joe Biden (D) were deeply involved in creating the lack of opportunity, the lack of hope, and the lack of joy that so many feel today.

Those who are able to overlook their own experiences in the past 3.5 years are victims of doublethink.

Harris-Walz are running on emotions and euphemisms coupled with demonizing Trump as a supposed "threat to democracy." Look at some content from Harris-Walz emails to MHProNews as examples straight from their Democratic campaign.

"Donald Trump is on a mission to bring our country back to a time when we had fewer rights and freedoms than we do today. And he and his allies are investing millions to attack Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz right now in critical battleground states across the country."

That's fear mongering. No mention of the fact that record inflation, record border jumpers, wages can't keep pace with rising food, gas, or housing costs. No mention that Harris supported Joe Biden, covered for his mental acuity issues, and voted dozens of times in support of Biden's policies. So, Biden's polices are Harris' policies. There is no logical way to detach from her role so that she can somehow run against Biden, or even more bizarrely, blame Trump for situations when she in Biden have held office for 3.5 years.

From other Harris-Walz-Democratic emails.

> Renée is a Harris-Walz voter because she’s passionate about protecting our democracy from extremists like Donald Trump.

> It looks like you’re still waiting to make your first contribution to our campaign. But with polling statistically tied and the MAGA Right spending millions to crush our momentum, Vice President Harris needs you today. Especially today.

> The money we raise online allowed us to lay the groundwork for our convention. It's allowing us to outspend Trump on the airways and out-organize him on the ground.

> About one in five Americans are still weighing the decision of whether to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.

From Jen O'Malley Dillon

> ...it's Jen, Kamala Harris's Campaign Chair. I just wrapped up a meeting with our Chief Financial Officer and senior leadership and arrived at a difficult conclusion:

We can't place ads in key media markets unless we bring in another 2.5 million donations by the end of the month. Yes, 2.5 million.

That's nonsense. It may be a lie. Democrats have far more money than Republicans do, because they have far more billionaires and corporate backers donating to Democratic aligned superPACs.

From Jen O'Malley Dillon

...Right now, far-right billionaires are dumping money into super PACs for ads meant to mislead and trick voters and tip the scale in their favor. And you are our last line of defense.

Paltering, posturing, projection, deception and misdirection. It is all visible in Democratic emails and ads.

Nicole Shanahan is another ex-Democrat who is backing Trump. She was a Democratic megadonor.

Nicole Shanahan to Tucker Carlson: “The programming is so strong on the left”

“You know, I made that Trump Derangement Syndrome ad for me, and for all the people I know who are suffering from the lies the media them.

It’s an offering for this country to unify, to get over this...and see what’s happening here."

Shanahan spoke about this ad that she helped produce.

According to certain Democrats, 'Orange Man Dad' or 'Trump is a threat to democracy.' They have said it so much that there have been at least two, possibly more, known threats to Trump's life. Those notions are demonstrably being stoked by leftists and influencers who support the left.

As Amanda Lumpkin, a Patch staffer, reported, government agents have said that Ryan Wesley Routh offered a written bounty to kill Trump. The violence is routinely from the left, not the right. The threats to undemocratically eliminate the Democrats' primarily rival candidate is by multiple Democratic donor Routh.

Would-Be Trump Assassin Offered $150K To 'Finish Job': Report

12 Examples of Public Calls for Violence Against Trump-More Ryan Routh

Gunman Ryan Wesley Routh Insights from CNN-Daily Signal-Patch and X

What past or current Democrats like Gabbard, Shanahan, Musk, Kennedy, and others have said is that it is the Harris-Walz campaign is the actual threat to democracy. The backers of the military industrial spy complex, like Dick Cheney (a so-called "Establishment" or RINO Republican) have embraced Harris. As Hot Spot said, that alone should say it all.

"Dick Cheney endorses Kamala Harris proving once again that Harris is the greater evil in the 2024 election. When the architect of almost every major war of my lifetime endorses a candidate, that’s tells us everything we need to know."

Hot Spot's video uses a word that violates Patch community guidelines, but the quotes above are from his X-post linked here. He goes into detail to explain all of the tragic events Cheney was involved in, and suddenly, Democrats have embraced him? That requires a form of doublethink for Democrats to accept. It is an example of doublespeak to boldly make that outrageously contradictory claim. Go back to that Robert F. Kennedy Jr./Tulsi Gabbard video posted above. They explain that the threat of world war is greater now than at any time in the past 60 years.

Shanahan posted the following.

"Our journey together is about everything we share: a belief in family, community, country, and God. Knowing we are in this together: our shared desire for real food, free speech, the pursuit of honest science… all of which is connected to raising healthy children for a better future… will unite us against the corrupt corporatism rampant in our culture and government. In this spirit, my team and I created a special MAHA hat as a symbol of that unity. We will continue working to give voice back to the people and elevate the issues that impact all of us, while exposing those forces that seek to divide us."

On the topic of better health, I recently posted the following on the Patch.

U.S. Health-Dr. Marty Makary–‘Broke Medicine’ Blind Spots-Price We Pay

There are several things wrong in our society. It is more than just open borders, rising prices, rising crime, and less affordable housing, as bad as those things are. Dr. Marty Makary explained just how problematic our health and food are. Those are issues that Shanahan and her running mate Kennedy are passionate about. It is a point where a former Democrat (Trump) and other former Democrats (Shanahan and Kennedy) are finding common ground.

As noted in the headline, many of the quotes and sources shown in this post are from the left.

There is common ground between the left and right, as Shanahan, Gabbard, Musk and others are illustrating.

The threats are also from the left, as Herland and others have explained. Ironically, former Democratic President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton's own words debunk many of the claims of Democratic candidates Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Walz (MN-D).

American Leviathan-Ned Ryun-CEO of American Majority and Voter Gravity | Lakeland, FL Patch

Thus, what ex-Democrat Trump really threatens is the grip of the institutional left and their big money backers on power.

The threat is so great, say Musk, Shanahan, Gabbard, Kennedy Jr. and others is that they thought it essential to support Trump. Kennedy has said he no longer recognizes the Democratic Party that he was raised in.

It certainly isn't the case that Trump is an ideal candidate. But he is the only option available to stop those who are already running the U.S. and have for 11.5 out of the past 15.5 years.

Unlike what Trump's adversaries say, he wasn't a tyrant in his first term so there is no evidence to think he will be one now.

It was Obama-Biden (D) in charge of the federal government for 8 years, Trump was in the White House for 4 years, and now Biden-Harris have held power for 3.5 years. The economy was better under Trump. Wages were rising. Homeownership was rising. Energy prices were falling. Peace was breaking out instead of war breaking out.

When Harris speaks about a way forward, that's like saying a path away from their own Democratic policies that resulted in new wars and an economy harming millions except their donor class? That's doublethink and doublespeak in action. ###

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L. A. “Tony” Kovach and his family live in a manufactured home in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of ManufacturedHomeProNews.com and ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com, trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several aspects of the industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing.

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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