Doublespeak is the deliberate changing, distorting, and even reversing the meaning of words to hide their true intent. It is a tool used as a means to mislead the listener in order to achieve the end goal of the speaker. In other words, it is purposeful, crafty, and diabolical lying. In George Orwell's 1984, he demonstrated how this sort of weapon could destroy society by eliminating free speech and open-minded thinking. In the restricted and constrained society that Orwell created, the following quotes applied. The concepts they convey bear a strong resemblance to what we are witnessing in the Republican Party today.
"Big Brother is Watching You."
Republicans have sat back and watched silently, nodded in agreement, or actively endorsed the dishonest, criminal, power-hungry, illegitimate, seditious, and traitorous actions and speech of Donald tRump. They have helped him to fan the flames that threaten to burn down our democracy by agreeing with his claims, repeating his lies, filing frivolous lawsuits, and condemning those who told the truth. They have also been complicit in the threats he and his thugs have issued to anyone who is more loyal to the Constitution, our nation's laws, or the power of truth and decency than he or she is to tRump. They have essentially used the power of their office to provide tRump with a false legitimacy rather than to fight for the best interest of their constituents.
tRump followers have made personal threats to his opponents and their families. These domestic terrorists have plotted, planned, and performed sieges, hostage takings, and even murders. They have armed themselves with military weapons, made and planted bombs, and constructed gallows and nooses. They have even desecrated our nation's Capitol with violence, destruction, and human waste while dishonoring our nation's flag by using it as a weapon to beat police officers to death and then replacing it with the flag of slavery. (Note that these same people would doubtlessly call for severe punishment for anyone who dared to peacefully and respectfully kneel before the flag in protest.)
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
Republicans allowed tRump to say that two plus two make five for his entire presidency. The greatest example of this is the Big Election Lie. Saying that tRump won the election is like saying that day is night. It is a lie and Republicans know it. Yet, some of them continue to say it even after the inauguration of President Joe Biden! Their followers look at them in their trusted high positions of power and say to themselves, "Surely they would not risk their reputations by promoting a boldfaced lie!" (They should think again.)
Nearly every single Republican refuses to support impeaching the former president of the United States for inciting an insurrection against our nation and our entire way of life! If treason does not warrant impeachment, what does? Furthermore, if encouraging the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans by "downplaying" the coronavirus does not demand impeachment, what does? If dividing this country with hateful, sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-military, anti-disabled, white supremacist rhetoric does not cry out for impeachment, what does? If inspiring fascist thugs to threaten, beat, and murder people who disagree with him does not prove the need for impeachment, what does? If using our national budget as his own personal pocketful of mad money does not provide the case for impeachment, what does? Finally, if making the entire world wonder how the United State of America became a country led by a fascist, democracy hating, power hungry, dictator does not provide a reason for impeachment, what does? This guy literally almost caused the death of every single Democrat and Republican in Congress and some members of their families and yet Republicans say to just let it go!
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."
Republicans have learned from tRump that, if they just lie long enough, they can redesign the facts to appear however they want them to be. Their motto is never give in...just double down. It's like an abusive husband who tells his wife that she did not see him doing what she caught him doing and that everything is her fault. It's just their way of getting out of a messy situation.
If they can claim that everything they have done wrong in the past was actually right, then they will not be punished. They can therefore build upon that foundation in the future in order to obtain more ill-gotten gains. In other words, there would be "no there there."
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."
Republicans' attack on mainstream media has helped to keep their followers from seeing true reality. Facts are distorted and even turned upside down. Their people are held in a bubble of disinformation and lies. They only trust those that spew the party line and distrust everyone else. They are in a constant battle against the other side. They see their opponents as slaves to those they distrust. They believe that their skewed view of the world makes them stronger.
"The best books...are those that tell you what you know already."
Republicans encourage tRump supporters to only consume distorted information from right-wing media. No matter how many times tRump is caught red-handed and even on tape saying and doing despicable things, his followers find a way to either justify it or dismiss it as "fake." Instead of accusing tRump of lying, they accuse everyone else. Any attempts to discredit these false notions are met with anger and a closed mind.
"If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself."
Many people have observed that tRump and his enablers often seem to actually believe their own lies. This is quite a useful skill for peddlers of falsehoods. It is easier to convince others of your lies if you believe them yourself!
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
Republicans have allowed the human rights of many people to get trampled on. Immigrant families have been torn apart and killed. Journalists have been attacked and killed. Unarmed black men and disabled persons have been shot and killed. Innocent Americans have been exposed to the coronavirus and killed by careless anti-mask super spreaders. Executions have been rushed through. Victims of horrible crimes have had their perpetrators pardoned by tRump and set free. Families have been starving and going homeless without relief from the pandemic. The list is endless.
"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."'
Republicans know full well that once people believe a lie, it is very difficult to discredit it. The lies they have told have now come full circle and have trapped them and endangered them. Even the Republicans who might consider backtracking are too afraid of retaliation to do so. Instead, they continue the doublespeak.
"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them."
tRump supporters simultaneously believe that he is honoring our Constitution while he is also calling upon them to dismantle it. They believe he has helped black Americans more than any other president yet he is justified in attacking Black Lives Matter and ignoring racial injustice and the blatant murder of black citizens by police officers. They believe he can honor the military while he makes up excuses for not attending ceremonies and not investigating bounties on the heads of American soldiers. They also believe he is purging the world of pedophiles, rapists, and criminals when his best friends are pedophiles, rapists, and criminals and he himself has been accused of such behavior (not to mention his behavior toward his own daughter).
tRump's followers believe that he has selflessly given up his presidential salary in order to save the taxpayer money. At the same time, they believe he is deserving of making millions of (illegal) dollars from holding office. They believe that tRump is a billionaire, yet they also believe that he needs their small donations to help him win elections and fight his court battles. They believe that no president has worked harder for America than tRump, yet they allow him to spend more time playing golf on the taxpayer's dime than any president in history. They believe he has worked hard to protect Americans from the coronavirus, yet they allowed him to call it a hoax, hold super spreader events (during which he was the most protected), cure himself at great taxpayer expense with treatments not available to other Americans, infect much of the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have no real plan to deal with the virus, take relief money for his and his friends' businesses, and try to minimize the death toll without memorializing the victims.
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others, we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me."
Pure power for Republicans means that they will say anything and do anything to maintain their position. They want to maintain their status with the salary and all the perks that come with it. Even more than that, they want to remain in good standing with their big money donors that have enabled them to become millionaires and live a lavish lifestyle they otherwise could not afford. When taxpaying Americans cry for economic relief, Republicans give it to the rich claiming that it will trickle down...It never does! The rich simply pocket the money, don't add any jobs, and allow the poor to continue to suffer.
tRump did not get into politics to save the world. He saw it as a money making scheme...a way to get out of debt and avoid responsibility for criminal behavior. Most of all, he saw it as a way to feed his enormous ego and feel the high of being the most powerful man in the world.
There is a reason why tRump admires dictators: He wants to be one! His favorite place to be is at a rally...no matter how many of his followers die from it. He stands on a stage protected from the virus he let run rampant while his supporters huddle together in a mass of infectious disease playing Russian roulette with their own lives and the lives of others with whom they come in contact when they return home.
Republicans were blinded by the light of having Putin's "useful idiot" be stupid enough to do whatever they told him to do in order to please their secret big money donors. Now that it has gone too far, they must not be let off the hook for the sake of (imm)unity. Unity requires truth and responsibility. There must be consequences for sedition, treason, inciting violence, and deceiving the American people to the point of destroying our democracy!
Just because Republicans were too blind to see that playing despicable and deadly games with tRump could only lead to self-destruction is no reason to spare them their just deserts. In fact, most of them knew that they were violating their own principles and willingly selling their souls to the devil. Some might have thought that surely a sense of decency, a concern for his reputation, or a sharp political savvy would prevent him from going too far. They did not see that tRump was only in the game of politics for himself and himself alone. He would do anything to win. Anyone who stood in his way was the enemy. He fiercely demanded absolute loyalty. He gave none in return. Friends were only friends for as long as they were useful to him. Pardons were reserved for those who were willing to pay the price. tRump leaves in his wake a huge caravan of people run over by the tRump bus, many labelled with catchy, derogatory nicknames and targets on their backs!
1984 Quotes by George Orwell - Goodreads
