GEORGE Orwell invented the word
Newspeak. It means “a
deliberately ambiguous and contradictory language used to mislead and
manipulate the people.”
We have to be wary of its existence, because it is
actually present in today’s world. It’s a language that deftly mixes
truths and untruths, and cleverly exploits a window of acceptable
concepts and beliefs to introduce false and harmful ideas
It must come from the devil, because our Christian faith
considers him as the “father of lies” (Jn 8,44), and newspeak in its
core is actually a lie, irrespective of the many beautiful and true
things it also emits.
Its pedigree betrays a complicated mix of isms—atheism,
agnosticism, deism, relativism, socialism, etc. Common among them is
the element of making man, us, not God, as the ultimate source of
truth, the final arbiter of good and evil.
In the first place, the agents of newspeak laugh at any
mention of a possibility of God’s existence or of his providence in
our affairs. They only believe in themselves and their brilliant
ideas.
It can originate and thrive in an environment described in
St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy:
“There will come a time when they will not endure the
sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up to themselves
teachers according to their own lusts, and they will turn away their
hearing from the truth and turn aside rather to fables.” (4,3-4)
In this issue about reproductive health and distributing
free condoms to highschoolers, for example, I cannot help but think of
this tricky phenomenon of newspeak.
We are regaled with many good and true things about them,
but we have to look closely at the fine print, because it’s there
where the lies and dangers are hidden.
Whenever I read their statements, I find myself also
agreeing with many of what they say, and even praise them for some of
their views. It’s just that they do not say everything, and where they
think they would go against truth and faith, they become evasive and
sly.
I have no quarrel with the need for everyone to attain
reproductive health and have sex ed. It’s in what is meant by these
ideals, and how they are to be implemented where I seriously beg to
disagree.
One can readily see the remaking of the concepts of
morality, of faith and religion, of human progress and development,
etc. It’s a hideous activity.
Sad to say, newspeak is now widely used by politicians and
pundits, social pacesetters and cultural gurus, and even religious
leaders who are actually referred to as false teachers in the gospel.
They cleverly distort the concept of freedom. It’s an
understanding of freedom that simply floats according to the fashion
of the times. It speaks the language of what is politically correct at
the moment with no reference to a universal, absolute truth.
This understanding of freedom confuses objectivity with
subjectivity, and divorces right to privacy from the common good and
universal truth.
We need to be wary of the evils of newspeak.
deliberately ambiguous and contradictory language used to mislead and
manipulate the people.”
We have to be wary of its existence, because it is
actually present in today’s world. It’s a language that deftly mixes
truths and untruths, and cleverly exploits a window of acceptable
concepts and beliefs to introduce false and harmful ideas
It must come from the devil, because our Christian faith
considers him as the “father of lies” (Jn 8,44), and newspeak in its
core is actually a lie, irrespective of the many beautiful and true
things it also emits.
Its pedigree betrays a complicated mix of isms—atheism,
agnosticism, deism, relativism, socialism, etc. Common among them is
the element of making man, us, not God, as the ultimate source of
truth, the final arbiter of good and evil.
In the first place, the agents of newspeak laugh at any
mention of a possibility of God’s existence or of his providence in
our affairs. They only believe in themselves and their brilliant
ideas.
It can originate and thrive in an environment described in
St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy:
“There will come a time when they will not endure the
sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up to themselves
teachers according to their own lusts, and they will turn away their
hearing from the truth and turn aside rather to fables.” (4,3-4)
In this issue about reproductive health and distributing
free condoms to highschoolers, for example, I cannot help but think of
this tricky phenomenon of newspeak.
We are regaled with many good and true things about them,
but we have to look closely at the fine print, because it’s there
where the lies and dangers are hidden.
Whenever I read their statements, I find myself also
agreeing with many of what they say, and even praise them for some of
their views. It’s just that they do not say everything, and where they
think they would go against truth and faith, they become evasive and
sly.
I have no quarrel with the need for everyone to attain
reproductive health and have sex ed. It’s in what is meant by these
ideals, and how they are to be implemented where I seriously beg to
disagree.
One can readily see the remaking of the concepts of
morality, of faith and religion, of human progress and development,
etc. It’s a hideous activity.
Sad to say, newspeak is now widely used by politicians and
pundits, social pacesetters and cultural gurus, and even religious
leaders who are actually referred to as false teachers in the gospel.
They cleverly distort the concept of freedom. It’s an
understanding of freedom that simply floats according to the fashion
of the times. It speaks the language of what is politically correct at
the moment with no reference to a universal, absolute truth.
This understanding of freedom confuses objectivity with
subjectivity, and divorces right to privacy from the common good and
universal truth.
We need to be wary of the evils of newspeak.
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