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IPFS News Link • Political correctness

Doug Casey on the Recent Corruptions of the English Language

• https://www.lewrockwell.com, By Doug Casey

Many recent changes in the way words are used are corrupting the language. The corruption of language is adding to the corruption of civilization itself.

Words are extremely important because they provide the most important means we have to communicate with each other. If you don't mean what you say and say what you mean, then it's impossible to communicate accurately. Do you remember that famous line at the end of Cool Hand Luke, when Paul Newman gets shot? "What we've got here is failure to communicate"? That's what I want to talk about.

Where shall I start, because there are over a million words in English? I've rather arbitrarily chosen a few that are especially relevant to investors and freedom lovers. Many of these words are popular with the political classes.

For instance, stimulate the economy. That phrase came out in the '60s. It really just means "print up money." They don't use it much anymore because they can see it no longer results in stimulus; rather, the opposite. Now it's called quantitative easing. And everybody uses it without questioning the fact that it means "print money," "inflate the currency," or "debase the currency." They say "quantitative easing" with no irony. It makes me think the chattering classes are actually, in reality, quite stupid. I'll discuss that word—"stupid"—later.

The "powers that be" use a word, and all the jabbering monkeys follow their lead using the same word. I advise you to call them on it. When you use the enemy's language, you're playing the enemy's game on his field. And you can't win a battle when you do that.


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