New Words in the Political Vocabulary

 

Over the years a language can adopt new words, often incorporating words from other languages and countries.  Some words take on new meanings.

The media is often responsible for coining new words and phrases that become part of every day speech and writing, eventually.

More recently, politics has greatly influenced both language and meaning.  We now have a language of spin where nothing is as it seems and often meanings we once relied upon have now become meaningless.  George Orwell saw it coming and accurately termed it ‘double speak’  ie when the meaning is reversed, and the true meaning is masked. This might have been the case in 1984.

In the 21 st Century ‘Truth’ now has a contested meaning.  ‘Honesty’ and ‘morality’ are two others which have become hard to define.   ‘Reality’ no longer exists as a shared experience since it seems it can mean whatever anyone wants it to mean.  So these words, once social anchors are now meaningless, with morality being turned into landless territory without a map.   

It would seem that these ’concepts’ have been turned on their heads by those who wish to dominate the discourse and capture the centre stage.  This occurs especially in the realm of politics, and especially where opposition is cancelled and any disagreement with the loudest voices, is silenced.  This leaves the playing field clear, minus any opposition and, ultimately, scrutiny.  Fear, harassment and intimidation are usually the blunt instruments which force compliance. 

Such behaviour and tactics became noticeable in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire in 2019 when the political landscape changed.  It also meant that new words entered the discourse. ‘Confabulation’ is one.  Its definition is located primarily in the realms of dementia where individual patients fill their memory gaps with false memories and imaginary happenings.  However, more recently such words have been co-opted by politicians, to convince people into believing something which is not true or is a lie.  To do this, false scenarios are dreamt up to prove or justify any action or decision that the perpetrator is compelled to take, (usually they are incapable of helping themselves) even though it is a false trail.  The emphasis on this word is thus  ‘Con’ ie as in confidence trick and ‘fab’ as in fabricate  - ie to invent, to make up or engineer.   Put together this word now actually means ‘to deceive’, to ‘mislead, and often to ‘tarnish’ and ‘denigrate’.  

 ‘Circumlocution’ is yet another device, once used to describe the use of many words where fewer would do.  Now, it does not necessarily refer to words, but more  to  a plethora of information, some of it false,  intended to confuse, and overburden the listener/reader.  It is almost as bad as being denied or starved of information.  But then if what is being delivered is dis- and mis-information, then starvation might be preferable.

The most interesting of all is the phrase bandied around the parish council meeting room which was  ‘my perception is my reality’.  Are these the places together with the village pubs where the term confabulation was spawned, and is now being nurtured?

Unfortunately, the phrase means that whatever an individual perceives to be the truth, becomes the truth, particularly if it is repeated often enough.   A phenomenon that an intelligent person would argue, is a nonsense.  Which it is.  Lies can never become truth.

The phrase, my perception is my reality, is more likely to be a mechanism to justify the control of the reality of others or even to dictate the reality, by denying others a view and the bullies impose their own as the one and only view.  This is usually reinforced by the rewriting of facts and records in order to preserve the sense of control.  All this does is to produce a breakdown of shared reality so that this mantra – ‘my perception is my reality’ - becomes a weapon in a battle of narratives.  The bully denies any other narrative other than the one they peddle.  Thus, what might have been an attempt to reduce chaos within the minds of these misguided individuals, eventually ends up spreading chaos outside themselves.  And all because their resistance prevents them from entertaining more than one point of view.

What can be said and thought today is gradually being both reduced and eroded.            

No wonder the mice scrabble to leave the meeting room!