By the time I reached the final paragraph I realized I was covered in goosebumps. Beautifully written. I am thankful for you, Professor & for the poets. We need you now, more than ever.
Just wrapped up Paul Cobaugh’s excellent primer on Narrative Warfare and all of this absolutely pieces together perfectly. From a US security perspective, the main thrust is that individual’s worldview and identity are built on narratives, some of which may be subconscious. Narrative warfare attempts to alter how reality is perceived by re-ordering meaning via disrupting existing narratives and implanting new ones.
Control in whatever ways an authoritarian can--including, and in many cases especially, through words. Let me use words to create "clarity" which is really rigidity and misdirection/misinformaton. Really grateful to see Ruth on Deadline Whitehouse Monday! I wanted more from all three panelists.
Thank you, Ruth. Perhaps the ability and desire of many artists and poets to pierce through the fog of Orwellian doublespeak is one reason this is a group often targeted by authoritarian regimes.
The tRump cult has been forming new words in an effort punish outsiders. TDS (tRump derangement syndrome) comes to mind. Those who criticize the tRump disciples are quickly dispatched as having TDS. The use of this term shows full addiction to the authoritarian cause and the intolerance of other ideas (political bigotry).
Fascism destroys the information space in society to the point that a cesspool will appear as a freshwater spring. Post-truth, postmodernism, confirmation bias, nihilism and motivated reasoning all play a part in the distortion of thinking and of reality.
I had the great fortune to participate(in 1986) in an abbreviated college production of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Furcht und Elend Des Dritten Reiches”. It was exhilarating and quite intense, with the most profound feeling when we spoke with audience members afterwards. Some had been in Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. The cast were all in tears after that.
I’m reminded of a paraphrase, to whom I can’t credit: “When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom.”
So many people who read 1984 focus entirely on Big Brother. That wasn't Orwell's primary concern. He was deeply focused (in the book and in essays) on how distortions of language LEAD to Big Brother.
"Under the Third Reich, the official language of Nazism came to be used as a political tool. The existing social culture was manipulated and subverted as the German people had their ethical values and their thoughts about politics, history and daily life recast in a new language. This notebook, originally called LTI (Lingua Tertii Imperii) - the abbreviations itself a parody of Nazified language - was written out of Klemperer's conviction that the language of the Third Reich helped to create its culture." "This brilliant, entertaining, profound, and ultimately saddening and horrifying book, is one of the great Twentieth-Century studies of language and of its engagement with history."
The Language of the Third Reich: a Philologist's Notebook
thank you Ruth, a timely reminder and explicit rebuke on those who abuse the power of language .We must remain attentive and preserve the impact for noble democratic goals, beautiful literature -- and conversely can be used to foment division and rage. Congratulations and thank you for your recent outstanding segment on MSNBC with Nicole Wallace. Excellent in all ways. Am in the fight for our democracy and to preserve our belief in truth and the greater good for all.
Wow!! Thank you. This morning, I was thinking and writing about my mistrust of words and their occasional lack of meaning, and reading this, explains the reasons so succinctly, I’m breathless.
The language changes are already being normalized, as is much else. We accept that Donald Trump can slander and lie and label people and things in both harmful and untruthful ways, and it just another day. Moreover, and more importantly, his followers LIKE that language. That denigration is the point, and once the cruelty of the language is accepted and normalized, the physical cruelty will also be normalized. "Well, on today, August 11, 2025, the Trump Administration deported another 1,643 people who the government claims were illegally in the country to Tijuana and Juarez, where under threat of force said illegal aliens were accepted by Mexican authorities. Trump called the deportees thugs and criminals that had brought drugs to America to poison our youth." "Today, December 3, 2025, President Trump once again called for the trial of Joe Biden for treason related to the yet unproved bribes Biden is said to have accepted from Ukraine. The Biden criminal organization must be brought to justice, Trump emphasized." As the corrupt conservative majority on the US Supreme Court affirmed today, authoritarianism is to be expected and embraced. Get ready for the cruelty, in all ways, insidious and overt. The lies will be big and bad and impactful - but the policies will be even worse.
Thank you! This is wonderful.
So well-written. Words are very powerful and we have to be careful to pay close attention.
By the time I reached the final paragraph I realized I was covered in goosebumps. Beautifully written. I am thankful for you, Professor & for the poets. We need you now, more than ever.
Great piece as usual, thank you
Just wrapped up Paul Cobaugh’s excellent primer on Narrative Warfare and all of this absolutely pieces together perfectly. From a US security perspective, the main thrust is that individual’s worldview and identity are built on narratives, some of which may be subconscious. Narrative warfare attempts to alter how reality is perceived by re-ordering meaning via disrupting existing narratives and implanting new ones.
He has an excellent substack here:
https://www.truthaboutthreats.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
Sad--and beautiful! Thank you.
Control in whatever ways an authoritarian can--including, and in many cases especially, through words. Let me use words to create "clarity" which is really rigidity and misdirection/misinformaton. Really grateful to see Ruth on Deadline Whitehouse Monday! I wanted more from all three panelists.
Thank you, Ruth. Perhaps the ability and desire of many artists and poets to pierce through the fog of Orwellian doublespeak is one reason this is a group often targeted by authoritarian regimes.
The tRump cult has been forming new words in an effort punish outsiders. TDS (tRump derangement syndrome) comes to mind. Those who criticize the tRump disciples are quickly dispatched as having TDS. The use of this term shows full addiction to the authoritarian cause and the intolerance of other ideas (political bigotry).
Fascism destroys the information space in society to the point that a cesspool will appear as a freshwater spring. Post-truth, postmodernism, confirmation bias, nihilism and motivated reasoning all play a part in the distortion of thinking and of reality.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Professor.
I had the great fortune to participate(in 1986) in an abbreviated college production of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Furcht und Elend Des Dritten Reiches”. It was exhilarating and quite intense, with the most profound feeling when we spoke with audience members afterwards. Some had been in Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. The cast were all in tears after that.
I’m reminded of a paraphrase, to whom I can’t credit: “When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom.”
Lovely.
So many people who read 1984 focus entirely on Big Brother. That wasn't Orwell's primary concern. He was deeply focused (in the book and in essays) on how distortions of language LEAD to Big Brother.
"Under the Third Reich, the official language of Nazism came to be used as a political tool. The existing social culture was manipulated and subverted as the German people had their ethical values and their thoughts about politics, history and daily life recast in a new language. This notebook, originally called LTI (Lingua Tertii Imperii) - the abbreviations itself a parody of Nazified language - was written out of Klemperer's conviction that the language of the Third Reich helped to create its culture." "This brilliant, entertaining, profound, and ultimately saddening and horrifying book, is one of the great Twentieth-Century studies of language and of its engagement with history."
The Language of the Third Reich: a Philologist's Notebook
Victor Klemperer
thank you Ruth, a timely reminder and explicit rebuke on those who abuse the power of language .We must remain attentive and preserve the impact for noble democratic goals, beautiful literature -- and conversely can be used to foment division and rage. Congratulations and thank you for your recent outstanding segment on MSNBC with Nicole Wallace. Excellent in all ways. Am in the fight for our democracy and to preserve our belief in truth and the greater good for all.
Wow!! Thank you. This morning, I was thinking and writing about my mistrust of words and their occasional lack of meaning, and reading this, explains the reasons so succinctly, I’m breathless.
“As authoritarianism advances in America, we will look to poets to uphold the beauty and precision of words and the healing power of language.”
……so beautiful dear Ruth ♥️ ♥️🫶
Ruth,
What an extra special message today. You have a lovely way with words. Maybe you should add -
“poetry writer” to your resume? Your appearance with Nicole Wallace was to-the-point terrific!
JA
The language changes are already being normalized, as is much else. We accept that Donald Trump can slander and lie and label people and things in both harmful and untruthful ways, and it just another day. Moreover, and more importantly, his followers LIKE that language. That denigration is the point, and once the cruelty of the language is accepted and normalized, the physical cruelty will also be normalized. "Well, on today, August 11, 2025, the Trump Administration deported another 1,643 people who the government claims were illegally in the country to Tijuana and Juarez, where under threat of force said illegal aliens were accepted by Mexican authorities. Trump called the deportees thugs and criminals that had brought drugs to America to poison our youth." "Today, December 3, 2025, President Trump once again called for the trial of Joe Biden for treason related to the yet unproved bribes Biden is said to have accepted from Ukraine. The Biden criminal organization must be brought to justice, Trump emphasized." As the corrupt conservative majority on the US Supreme Court affirmed today, authoritarianism is to be expected and embraced. Get ready for the cruelty, in all ways, insidious and overt. The lies will be big and bad and impactful - but the policies will be even worse.