Trigger Warning: Gaslighty stuff
Yes, this is about 1984. Doublespeak is a play on doublethink, which is the way the Party teaches members to hold contradictory/impossible ideas. "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength," the three-part statement of the Party, is a great example of doublethink. Doublespeak is what I'm calling it when we say those things trying to convince others or hide the truth. Doubleplusungood is Newspeak (language being created by the Party) for really, really bad. Orthodoxy is basically "the Party line" or "the accepted doctrine." Putting my title back into "Oldspeak" (what they called English,) it becomes:
The term political correctness and the ways it winds up getting used reminds me of doublethink (speak?) sometimes- when a term that is not actually preferred by the marginalized group is insisted on in the name of political correctness (or one that some prefer and some don't and the group as a whole doesn't have one preference) and then when members of the same group ask for terminology they actually like, it's derided as too politically correct. I haven't seen this much with autism, usually Autistic people who ask to be called Autistic rather than people with autism are just called horrible people or treated like we don't understand why it's in our own best interests to be called people with autism or both at once, but I've seen Indigenous people get this one.
So that's a word that's kind of like 1984s term duckspeak: it's a good thing when the thing we're calling politically correct is what you want, and it's a bad thing when the thing we're calling politically correct is what you don't want. Or for them, it's a good thing when your person duckspeaks (quack like a duck, speak without thinking,) but it's a grave insult for a politician you don't like.
That's not quite the same as most of the disability care jargon, but there are pieces of both duckspeak and doublespeak in there. They talk about "multi-tiered PBIS support systems for promoting inclusion and reducing challenging behaviors" and you know what that basically comes down to? It comes down to positive reinforcement, multiple kinds of reinforcement for different needs, and keeping students behaving and in the classroom- bits of duckspeak. Not exactly something that needs all that jargon, but hey. Or "person-centered care" denying what the person actually wants- doublespeak, much?
Yes, this is about 1984. Doublespeak is a play on doublethink, which is the way the Party teaches members to hold contradictory/impossible ideas. "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength," the three-part statement of the Party, is a great example of doublethink. Doublespeak is what I'm calling it when we say those things trying to convince others or hide the truth. Doubleplusungood is Newspeak (language being created by the Party) for really, really bad. Orthodoxy is basically "the Party line" or "the accepted doctrine." Putting my title back into "Oldspeak" (what they called English,) it becomes:
That actually takes longer to write out than "Doublespeak is doubleplusungood but still orthodoxy," and it's still not quite right. I want more tones of "You can get in big trouble if you don't do it." I want more tones of "The whole language is constructed so that you can't talk about things any other way." (Once I get those in, I'm pretty much saying what I want to say.)Saying contradictory things or using names that mean the opposite of what they sound like is really really bad but is accepted and expected.
The term political correctness and the ways it winds up getting used reminds me of doublethink (speak?) sometimes- when a term that is not actually preferred by the marginalized group is insisted on in the name of political correctness (or one that some prefer and some don't and the group as a whole doesn't have one preference) and then when members of the same group ask for terminology they actually like, it's derided as too politically correct. I haven't seen this much with autism, usually Autistic people who ask to be called Autistic rather than people with autism are just called horrible people or treated like we don't understand why it's in our own best interests to be called people with autism or both at once, but I've seen Indigenous people get this one.
So that's a word that's kind of like 1984s term duckspeak: it's a good thing when the thing we're calling politically correct is what you want, and it's a bad thing when the thing we're calling politically correct is what you don't want. Or for them, it's a good thing when your person duckspeaks (quack like a duck, speak without thinking,) but it's a grave insult for a politician you don't like.
That's not quite the same as most of the disability care jargon, but there are pieces of both duckspeak and doublespeak in there. They talk about "multi-tiered PBIS support systems for promoting inclusion and reducing challenging behaviors" and you know what that basically comes down to? It comes down to positive reinforcement, multiple kinds of reinforcement for different needs, and keeping students behaving and in the classroom- bits of duckspeak. Not exactly something that needs all that jargon, but hey. Or "person-centered care" denying what the person actually wants- doublespeak, much?
Fantastic stuff. I was reading about Orwell and his two brilliant essays... somewhere down the line I got diverted by Duckspeak/doublespeak and political correctness. I enjoyed reading your article :)
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