Jonathan Chait on Eric Cantor’s defeat: undocumented
I was wondering what the left would have to say about it all—mostly, how the attack on Brat would start to be framed—and this article by Jonathan Chait was instructive but unsurprising in that regard: Brat’s a “Rand-loving right-wing crank.” Well, of course; who isn’t?
But it was the following that I think worthy of note: Chait, seeking to paint Brat as an anti-immigration extremist, wrote that Brat “still uses the old lingo, calling undocumented immigrants ‘illegals.'”
Quelle horreur!
A few years ago I wrote a post about this whole “undocumented” phenomenon, and offered the following PC definitions for other terms as well:
thieves: undocumented owners
prisoners: unpardoned innocents
rapists: unsanctioned sex partners
embezzlers: unpaid workers
prostitutes: unmarried wives
terrorists: un-uniformed soldiers
The left pays particular attention to language, for which we mock them. But it is a deadly serious game, too, because language helps to shape attitudes. The left is well aware of that, and they are fighting on every front, including this one. Brat does well to refuse to concede.
Language was the original mind control mechanism, before the techniques were refined and crafted.
Of course, that only works on people who speak the same language. Which is why learning Japanese has allowed me to setup a lot more firewalls and defenses than I had imagined were sustainable, against English propaganda. By rerouting my thoughts into Japanese, to look at English social rules and contexts, I can negate much of the emotional power or damage that comes from words laced with attacks. It deconstructs the virus, it doesn’t merely firewall out the access ports.
When the Russian defectors were doing KGB work and actively adjusting their Truth with what they found in the archives on Lenin and Stalin, they were contesting power to power, strength with strength, Russian with Russian. They were using Russian thoughts, words, and memories to fight Russian propaganda that used Russian thoughts, words, and memories. That’s why I didn’t find it strange that it often took the KGB defectors years, if not decades, to accept the full truth and do something about it.
Rather than smart people being able to learn multiple languages, I think the reverse is truer. Multiple languages allows people to think in different modes, freeing them from their birth culture’s stereotypes and assumptions. Thus it makes people smarter.
ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Dear Comrade PC-Thought Policeman Chait: Focus Fool: They’re UNDOCUMENTED because they are ILLEGAL. They are ALIENS because they are not IMMIGRANTS.
Neo, I believe that PC-LIES and Lingo are strangling our culture. Tammy Bruce’s book on the subject,”The New Thought Police”, was published 13+years ago and it’s long out of currency by the perpetual tidal waves of PC-LIES.
Ymarsakar:
Totally off topic and super-egotistical, but I cannot resist.
Japan and the Japanese have always been intriguing to me. I really don’t know a lot about Japan or the Japanese, but whenever either crosses my path, I look, listen and learn.
It is a quirk, or maybe not.
In the West End bar on Broadway in the early 70’s, my set of friends drank the night away with Keeichi Koto, a fellow from Japan who was totally delightful. He became part of our group (from Buffalo, Kentucky, Schenectady, and White Plains).
That night, he completely learned God Bless America, and we completely learned the Japanese national anthem.
We all might have been stoned.
Kee mee gah-ah yo-oh-wah
Chee ye know so oh ya chee oh knee
Sah zah ray
Eee chee noh
Eee wah oh tay nah ree tay
Koh kay noh
Moo ohh zoo ohh nah ree-ee tay
We honor the Emporer
And we wish
That his Reign May Last
As long as the Moss
Which surrounds the tree
About five times or so I have been in an entirely random situation with a group from Japan, and spontaneously sang the Japanese national anthem as a surprise.
The resulting love and delight were all worth the risk of seeming like a total fool.
Just say it over and over again: Illegal alien criminals. It is rather simple when one cuts to the chase.
Jeff Goldstein over at Proteinwisdom.com has written numerous posts over the years about how using the Left’ language is to cede the argument. Kudos to Brat for refusing to buy into their depiction of them as simply immigrants who don’t have their paperwork in order.
This is a drum I’ve been banging for years.
Whenever we use the Left’s terminology, we LOSE the argument.
Tone, you should check out youtube, there are plenty of Westerners living in Japan or Okinawa, for martial arts, education, or oversea studies, that love talking about cultural shock.
“Love talking about cultural shock.”
Personally I have no desire to talk about cultural shock in the culture of my birth. However, if I was an expat in Costa Rica or Japan or France I might in a fit of stupidity shuck aside any sense of embarrassment and talk about cultural shock. But then I would be muy stupido for being an expat who expects the culture of my exile to resemble the culture of my birth. Sheesh.
It’s not a negative thing. Knowing how different perceptions and people react in different circumstances is a good thing.
And in place of going there yourself, other people’s experiences can be useful as a reference.
Some Americans go to Japan and when they come back to Detroit or DC, they experience reverse cultural shock. Meaning, things are quiet in Japan, more polite, people try not to make a meiwaku of themselves in terms of noise and emotional pollution. When they get back home, after accustoming themselves to Japanese expectations, they get hit by the Urban American shebang. Reverse cultural shock.
Emotional damage there.
You got the definition of rapist wrong, it’s currently “All White Males.”
Clinton, Kennedies. Allen.