printThe following is from my new WND.COM column, “Loughner, Language, and The Big Lie”:
“… Jared Lee Loughner was both fixated on his representative’s imagined failings, and preoccupied with language and its misuse. These elements combined and then combusted in his head.
As a writer who really loves the English language, I am intrigued by the intrusive, persistent thoughts about grammar and illiteracy to have plagued Loughner.
You see, as I mourn the senseless slaughter of my countrymen, I also grieve – with almost every book I pick up or Internet tract I read – the bastardization of the language.
Given time, the nation’s mental-health mavens will confuse matters. They will likely assert, without any science, that misfiring neurotransmitters in the man’s brain brought us to this point. It would appear, however, that what pushed Loughner into an abyss was the inability to “read” the world around him.
Words are symbols. They are used as agreed-upon conventions to make sense of the world. For Loughner, these constructs no longer corresponded to the things they are supposed to describe.
The magazine Mother Jones interviewed Bryce Tierney, a close friend of Loughner. Tierney confirmed “the fascination Loughner had with semantics and how the world is really nothing – [an] illusion.” In addition, Loughner, said his pal, liked to insist (credibly) that government was “f—ing us over.”
Perhaps, then, it was not speech per se that inflamed Loughner’s febrile passions, but, rather, Orwellian speech; lies that belie reality.
The Big Lies. …”
Read the complete column, “Loughner, Language, and The Big Lie.”
Ilana,
You are so right! I see the big failure in our school system as well! Our youth can hardly spell or use proper grammar! I am just your average everyday Joe, who works an average job! I see GM’s and CEO’s that cannot spell and their written communications is so poor, I do not know how they made to their position! It takes a real ass to hire someone that cannot spell, or someone equally stupid! Take Care!
Words do indeed have meaning. God created all that is with a word. The commonly heard, dismissive phrase, “Ah, those are just words,” is therefore profoundly sad and frightening.
The post-modern urge to deconstruct everything, most disturbingly language, portends destructions beyond our wildest imaginings.
Excellent article! I’ve been hearing in the media how Loughner was obsessed with grammar and all I could do was scratch my head, failing to see how such a mundane topic could incite such carnage.
Ilana,
Excellent observations. This entire “event” disturbs me deeply. Like a flashlight held against a seemingly flat, smooth surface, the attack and aftermath in Tucson glaringly reveals the discontinuities and cracks in our ability and willingness think clearly, fairly, and critically about events.
Your impeccable essay has rendered me speechless! It is brilliant.
I humbly ask that the last sentence of your column be the springboard into your next essay.
I enjoyed this column, particularly the phrase “[Words] are used as agreed-upon conventions to make sense of the world.” That is what I’ve tried to describe in the past when talking language and a standard of language. I’ve met people who argue that since language changes, it has no set meaning, that is depends on the person. I say that a language can change for the better, to add words and conventions that more precisely describe reality. Perhaps the real gap in this debate is over whether a concrete reality exists.
As a consequence of removing the concept of self-governing moral imperatives—which, most critically, reveal the finite distinctions between good and evil—from the lexicon of public education, the USA now has an ever growing segment of it’s population imbued with the heinous proposition that morality is alternately and whimsically relative, subjective or pluralistic.
Another outcome of the subjective-relative-pluralistic philosophies is the politically influenced altering of the definition of words and the syntax of their construction; leading to, for example, contestations over the meaning of the word “is.” This alteration of the exact meaning of words undermines both truth and accountability; and, within a justice system that now allows for and suborns a framework of prosecution, incarceration and rehabilitation lacking in fixed, distinct, absolute rights and wrongs, one of the more pathetic outcomes is exemplified by the recent Tuscon tragedy.
Making matters worse, related concepts such as compartmentalization suggest that poor choices made in ones personal life have no bearing on how one will perform in a professional or public capacity. In that these speciously contrived, highly hypocritical and Machiavellian-esque ideas are propounded by public education at every level and frequently displayed by corporate executives, community leaders and our elected representatives, is it any wonder that a significant segment of the US population also accepts and frequently engages in these baseless, irrational and all-too-often trust-destroying behaviors?
Excellent article at WND – “Loughner, Language, and The Big Lie”
As you point out, the root of the problem; “Having robbed “our kids” of their intellectual and spiritual heritage, they no longer have the resources to cope.” In America now for decades we’ve degraded the education we give young people. Ancient spiritual guidelines have been sidelined into oblivion. We’ve bombarded young and old with vapid, morally bankrupt entertainment emphasizing wanton sex, disrespect for God, family, nation and self, excessive violence, the occult and the dark arts, lately glorifying witches, warlocks and vampires. What do we expect? And we’re surprised troubled folks like Loughner go berserk, in a culture going quickly bad? As the ancients of a number of thinking cultures have instructed, what we humans dwell, think on and consume, we become. Garbage in garbage out. Do other nations so deliberately degrade their populace? How do we change this in America? If we don’t our future is dark and troubled.
Your best, most thought provoking article to date.
Indeed, a ‘return to reason.’
Simply beautiful.
This essay describes so well the problem with the loss of a common language in the United States: Although we are for the most part speaking the same form of English, the use of semantics to change the meanings of words has made most of us unable to comprehend many youth or to communicate with them. This perversion of the language is perhaps the most insidious action in the war to destroy our culture and the Republic. If one subscribes to the theory that early language development in turn determines brain development, our public schools and other institutions have succeeded in lowering the IQ of two entire generations of Americans. The disconnect between what is said and what is seen leaves these youth to flounder in a schizophrenic world. Only the strongest will survive. For those who suffer from true medical schizophrenia, the disconnect is clearly too overwhelming and too jarring for a weakened sense of self to survive. It is a wonder we dont have far more incidents such as Tucson.
PLEASE follow this thread in future essays: it is vital that the general public begin to understand the dire effects of this deliberate disconnect of reality from language.
Ilana this is the bravest, most beautiful column you have ever penned (or at least among the many I have read over the years).
How can one state these truths without sounding an apologist for this guys’ heinous actions? You found the right balance here.
Yikes! I just corrupted the language some more there. Of course I meant to write “this guy’s”. This cultural and linguistic decline of our civilization thing is catching isn’t it.
You’ve outdone yourself. What a brilliant piece!
Ilana – resplendent article and excellent analysis.
I happened across an article which I think all here might find interesting reading…and appalling reading. The theme of this young man’s essay relates directly to Ilana’s wonderful article. It demonstrates that “The Big Lie” is, as we know, even more pervasive among youth in Europe.
Some excerpts from this young man’s poignant essay:
“(History lessons in Norwegian schools are mostly about racism or genocide, and consist mostly of film-watching; other movies in the curriculum include Hotel Rwanda and Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story.)”
“The members of Norway’s Generation Y are not the first to embrace the views of the postmodern, politically correct Left – that dubious honor belongs to their parents and grandparents –, but they are the first to absorb it by osmosis.”
The full article is here:
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4638
Orwell’s two classics, Animal Farm and 1984, are extremely apropos to America 2011. Not only can we say that FREEDOM IS SLAVERY and WAR IS PEACE and TRUTH IS FICTION but also that RATIONALITY IS INSANITY. No doubt these peculiar pathogens like Loughner and Malik Hasan deviated off the “normal” path – but how “normal” is an America that believes:
1.4 Trillion dollar deficits can be maintained without bankruptcy
Bombing Neanderthal Pushtuns for more than 9 years is securing our liberties
We need to fondle genitals of 3 year olds and grope people on subways to make us safer
Americans should be able to retire at age 60 and be supported for the next 30 years in a lifestyle comparable to that of a dozen Chinese
Everyone is ENTITLED to a home, college education, medical care, cell phones, internet access, cars, etc. as fundamental rights
Public displays of sexuality are to be encouraged while political speech is to be discouraged.
The sheep (general population) and the pigs (politicians) are content to turn what was once a Republic into the Orwellian Empire of Animal Farm. Is anyone sane? I recommend this essay which encapsulates America’s current disconnection from reality:
http://www.fredoneverything.net/MonkeyTrap.shtml
The big lie continues.”http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110116/ap_on_re_us/us_congresswoman_shot” a person who apparently received minor wounds (not hospitalized) at the event that killed six people, went to a town hall meeting, took a picture of a member of the TEA party that asked for calm and said “Your dead” He has been taken to get the same evaluation the killer needed. I wonder what kind of people attend Democrat functions in Arizona.
Here’s my take on the shooter, boring. A loser who wished to be famous, no more important than Bremmer, Chapman, Hinckley etc…An idiot that we’ve all wasted way too much time on, How about the people he destroyed, They’re much more important.
STOP wasting time on criminals !!!!