It has been a great week for students of culture, multiculturalism, thought control and the nation’s theatre of the absurd.
Although we keep going back to Orwell’s Winston Smith and his battles with the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Plenty and all things to do with Newspeak and the Thought Police, there really is no better refuge in English literature than 1984 — that is, if you want to maintain your sanity. Remember 1984’s most enduring motif — Ignorance is Strength. It might also work as Strength is Ignorance — in government circles.
The week got off to a ripper of a start. At the Ministry of Love, aka The Attorney General’s Department, Citizen McClelland launched — or to use his words “rolled out” — Project Lexicon. This is a planned attempt to re-educate Australians in the use of language. That is the English language — as it is used to describe terrorists.
Apparently to use such words as “terrorist”, “jihad”, “martyr” and “the war on terror” is likely to offend Muslims, or at least give them bad press — so the Ministry of Love is about to teach us how not to offend Muslims. To use Orwell’s example, any words that might suggest that terrorists, jihadists or Muslim religious fanatics are, to put it mildly, crazed killers, is according to Senator McClelland — doublespeakungood.
The fact that something over 95% of acts of terrorism are committed by Muslims, cannot be reduced to another Orwellian notion — minitrue.
