29.07 / 14:25
President
The New Age of Orwellianism | Opinion
Rules for Radicals, that "he who controls the language controls the masses." Alinsky, whose work profoundly influenced at least one notable fellow Chicagoan, Barack Obama, was in that quip channeling George Orwell's famous dystopian novel, 1984. "Newspeak," the language of Orwell's fictional single-political party superstate, was a tool devised for monitoring the people's communications, prosecuting "thoughtcrimes," and ultimately controlling and dictating the people's very beliefs.Conservatives have taken pleasure in poking fun at the modern Left's "Orwellian" tendencies—perhaps too much, actually, as overuse of the accusation has had the effect of limiting its potency.
