Dictating the meaning of ‘democracy’

In his famous essay “Politics and the English Language”, George Orwell described how powerful political forces manipulate language to deceive people. Calling the mass slaughter of a helpless opposition “pacification” was only one of the examples he cited. In more recent times, the term “guided democracy” has evolved to cloak creeping fascism. Exactly how democratic it is depends a lot on who’s doing the guiding.

Where authoritarianism flourishes, debasement of language is sure to follow, and now the National Council for Peace and Order is contributing to the linguistic rot. “Attitude adjustment” is just a pretty name for something very much like brainwashing, and a “selected” Senate is just a whitewash word for an appointed one. 

Let’s call a spade a spade rather than an implement of entrenchment. 

Ye Olde Pedant