Land of Doublespeak

Don’t be fooled by the calendar- it’s 1984. We are living in an Orwellian universe where leaders use Doublespeak to twist and obscure meanings of words.

 “Efficiencies” means the dismantling or gutting of an entire federal department or agency so that it will no longer be able to perform its mission.

“A little Pain” means rising inflation, recession, or cars we will no longer be able to afford. Medicaid, school lunches, mental health services for those battling addiction and mental illness (including veterans) help for students with disabilities, all are on the chopping block. Social Security is closing offices and eliminating phone services, making it harder for many older people to access benefits. Services that keep us safe and healthy are being stripped to skin and bones, with the CDC, FDA, and EPA targeted for major staff reductions.

“Ally” means a dictator who invaded a sovereign nation and punishes anyone who dissents.

As a writer, I am keenly aware of language’s power to subvert and manipulate the truth. Suddenly red is green and an apple is a banana. In pursuing the administration’s nefarious agenda, NO fewer than fifty-one words have been purged from federal web sites, including:

Clean energy

Climate change

Oppression

Feminism

Social justice

Victim

LGBTQ

Ethnicity

I hate speech.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

 Recently the Washington Post found 500 instances in which language on federal sites have been deleted or revised to reflect the administration’s policies.

 All this hits home. When my 8-month-old granddaughter was diagnosed with Respiratory Syncytial Virus last month, I consulted the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web site and was met with chilling words in red typeface announcing that the site had been edited to conform with policies of the administration.

My younger daughter’s non-profit has changed its mission and goals to eliminate references to diversity equity, inclusion, although the agency’s work is grounded in the effort to address learning inequities among Detroit public school students, who are overwhelming poor and black.

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Our First Amendment rights are being obliterated  when:

·        Media are censored by management to soften criticism of the administration. An opinion page editor at the Washington Post resigned when she was no longer free to dissent in her columns. (Whatever happened to Democracy dies in darkness?) Respected columnists at the Post,  The New York Times and a CNN anchor have left positions rather than be gagged.

·        Federal workers are afraid to talk to journalists for fear of retribution. Many interviewees comment anonymously for fear of losing their jobs or funding for their department.

·        A US president determines which media will have access to White House briefings.

·        Individuals who are in the US legally and have committed no crime can be deported for speaking out against administration policies. Columbia University student Mahoud Khalil Akil was seized at his home by ICE agents for organizing pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Several other international students here legally have been detained for dissenting, and the administration has rescinded the student visas of hundreds.

·        Columbia University makes a deal with the Trump administration to identify student protestors and have its Mideastern studies monitored by the Trump Administration. In exchange, Columbia gets $400 million.

And so it goes into this land where the right to speak out is being eviscerated by a thin-skinned cruel bully.

Tragically, we are no strangers to political witch hunts in this country.

 During the McCarthy era when hundreds of Americans in public life were accused of pro-Communist sympathies, my own father “Americanized” his Russian sounding name, figuring he would have a better chance of landing a job.

In a speech before the French parliament, Senator Claude Malhuret called what is happening in the U.S. “the beginning of  the confiscation of democracy.”

And then these words: “But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.”

Indeed, we are. The Congress won’t save us. Media moguls and corporate heads won’t save us. The federal courts are holding, but who will stand up for them when Trump defies their rulings? (As he has already done.)

It is We the People who are refusing to bend our knees in the face of unconstitutional and reckless dismemberment of our government. Fight on!

First, they came for the Jews, and I did nothing because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Socialists, and I did nothing because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I did nothing because I was not a Catholic.

Then they came for the Communists, and I did nothing because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to help.

 —Martin Niemoller, Lutheran Theologian