Marcusian Misdirection

Pop Quiz

What novelist said: “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words.”?

What writer said: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”?

What American inventor said: “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.”?

What philosopher observed: “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”?

Answers at the end of the post.

Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt School was a firm believer in “linguistic therapy”. Linguistic therapy is a means of controlling people by manipulating the meaning of words used by educational institutions, the government and the media. A good example is the political term “Progressive”. The word itself suggests advancement or progress. Progressivism became a political movement on the late 19th century. It advocated “social reform” to address societal and economic inequalities. It was embraced by the likes of William Jennings Bryant and Woodrow Wilson. The vehicle for the implementation of Progressive values was an unelected bureaucratic state which has , over time, morphed into the Deep State. Progressivism is completely antithetical to the US Constitution.

After 1917 and the birth in the international Communist movement Progressivism was anathematized. It was seen as the precursor of centralized/Communist government control. On a dime the Left engaged in a therapeutic sleight of hand…Progressivism became Liberalism.

Please ignore the fact that Classical Liberalism is a political and economic philosophy that emphasizes individual freedom, limited government, and the protection of private property rights. True Liberals advocate for civil liberties, free markets, and the rule of law. It is based on the premise that people should have the autonomy to pursue their own interests as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. This is the very antithesis of Progressivism but the media and the Democrat Party bent the concept to their purposes…increased government control of the people.

In the 1980’s President Reagan drew the line between the Constitution and liberalism as practiced by the Democrats. He famously said: “It’s not what liberals don’t know, it’s what they know that is wrong.” In the blink of an eye the Democrats dusted off the old Progressive playbook and it became the new descriptor of any left-leaning politician. All it required was a total ignorance of history…cue the Department of Education.

But our story doesn’t end there…

Affirmative Action evolves into DEI

In 1961 President Kennedy issued an Executive Order designed to “ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” In theory that is a noble concept but in the hands of a bureaucrat it is ripe for abuse. A half-century later anti-discrimination became Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Merit, Excellence and Accomplishment were kicked to the curb. Suggested reading: When Race Trumps Merit by Heather MacDonald. DEI inexorably led to…

Equality v. Equality of Result (Equity)

Equality means that every American has the same status, rights, and responsibilities as all other members of a society, Everyone shall be equal before the law. However, the term equality has been replaced by the term equity which is used to justify equality of result. This in turn led to…

Disparate Impact

Standardized tests, minimum qualifications, measurements of skills are routinely discarded if the scores and measurements have a disparate impact on a protected class. A particularly egregious example of this is the issuance of Commercial Driver Licenses in the Leftist paradise of California. Some witless bureaucrat discovered that requiring candidates to be able read street signs in English had a disparate impact on the ability of illegal immigrants to secure licenses to drive 18 wheelers. This, not surprisingly, resulted in a number of fatalities from coast to coast, Oddly no one notices the disparate impact the NBA has had on the employment of dwarves.

Justice rather than Selective, Restorative and Environmental Justice

Justice requires fairness in the way people are treated, the same rules and regulations evenly and fairly enforced. By pure legerdemain there are now a number of new variations of justice: Selective, Restorative and Environmental. Selective justice is the random enforcement of the laws. We hear endlessly that President Trump is “not above the law”. Yet every person who enters the country ILLEGALLY is allowed to hover above the law. Restorative justice ignores the actual violation of law choosing instead to focus on the life experiences which caused the criminal to violate the law. This results in a turnstile system of enforcement. So-called environmental justice defies definition unless you believe that every individual has an unalienable right to their own personal ecosystem.

White Christian Nationalism

A triple threat of Leftist words of intimidation…White people are the fount of all evil in the world, Christians are narrow minded, superstitious hillbillies who hug their Bibles at night and Nationalism is a term that just reeks of MAGA. We are instructed to fear it but it begs the question…how do Black Christians, such as those being slaughtered in Nigeria, fit into this tableau?

Transphobia

A newly minted word to describe any opposition to the sexual mutilation of children…found in the jabberwocky dictionary.

Digital ID’s

With all of the caterwauling about it being racist to require Blacks to secure photo ID’s (Democrats infantilizing Blacks…again) how can anyone justify requiring a digital ID? Sounds harmless enough and what could possibly go wrong? In Britain the Prime Minister warns: “You will be unable to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have a digital ID.” Queen Minima of the Netherlands says digital IDs will help track “who actually got a vaccination or not.” The founder of Oracle added the exclamation point noting: “Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything.” Check your compliance score with Chairman Soros.

White Fragility

The tendency of members of the dominant white culture to have a defensive, wounded, angry, or dismissive response to accusations of racism. As accusations of racism are basically punctuation for the Left one wonders why we don’t see white people on every street corner reduced to paroxysms of fear and self-loathing.

Climate, the Bogeyman

Marcusian misdirection at it’s very best: Global cooling (1975) becomes anthropogenic climate change which then becomes global warming which in turn becomes Climate Chaos and now…never mind Just Kidding…all within 50 years. Luckily the science is settled…humans have no impact on the global climate.

From the River to the Sea

This euphemism allows those who hate the Jews to avoid having to manifest their racism openly by denying the Shoah ever happened, chanting “gas the Jews” in front of the Sydney Opera House or diverting attention from the October 7 Hamas invasion of Israel with the accompanying rape and murder of innocent Jews. In short it helps avoid an uncomfortable embarrassment.

Domestic Terrorism

The FBI seems to have a very narrow definition of domestic terrorism. Transgender school shooters, Antifa is just a figment of the national imagination, pipe bomb deliveries to political targets in Washington, Israeli embassy workers killed by a man claiming he “did it for Gaza”, two National Guardsmen shot in DC by and Afghan national…nothing to see here, please move along.

Yet January 6 is described as an insurrection, a coup d’etat, a threat to Democracy itself. 274 FBI assets were there for crowd control and Antifa ghost members were there in full MAGA gear. No advance intel, no effort to prevent the “riot” and reams of exculpatory evidence withheld from the public…suppressed by the J6 Congressional investigators.

And then there parents who have the temerity to speak up at school board meetings. And heaven forfend if you are identified as a Radical-Traditionalist Catholic. The FBI Richmond office prepared a document that was widely circulated within the Agency. The title: Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.” (Extra credit if you can diagram that Kamalaesque word salad.) Initially Christopher Wray, the Helen Keller of the FBI, credibly claimed ignorance of the existence of the document as well as the 274 FBI assets on Capitol Hill on January 6. Where is Anne Sullivan when you need her?

Mayor-elect Mamdani has threatened to arrest Bibi Netanyahu if he comes to New York. With that FBI warning the Pope had best be on his toes if he tries to visit the US.

Charles Dodgson would be green with envy at the ability of the media to perform linguistic therapy. Any failed program or policy, though unchanged, is immediately rechristened in order to hornswoggle an ignorant public. The National Socialist German Workers Party has become a right wing organization thereby allowing the Democrats to call anyone they disagree with a Nazi and/or a disciple of Hitler. George Orwell call your office…

Answers to the Pop Quiz:

What novelist said: “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words.”? Science fiction writer Philip Dick

What writer said: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”? Eric Blair

What American inventor said: “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.”? Benjamin Franklin

What philosopher observed: “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”? Freidrich Nietzsche