Opus 2023-086: Book Review: We Need a Jargon Alarm

I just finished reading a book by Rod Dreher.  It was called Crunchy Cons and was written in 2006.  I am guessing that he has grown a lot since he wrote it.  Last May I finished a book he wrote called Live not by Lies, published in 2020.  The recent book was excellent.  The earlier book, while it had some moments of worthiness, was mainly a lesson in jargon.  

I would urge you to read the later book and advise you to avoid Crunchy Cons.  

In Crunchy Cons, Dreher knew in his heart that conservative values were based on truth but he seemed to want to make sure that he was still accepted by the liberal set.  He would pay lip service to an idea, say the free market, and then proceed to bad mouth it as based on nothing but greed.

One example,

“The first idol crunchy cons have to smash is efficiency, the guiding principle of free markets, but an unreliable guide to building institutions that serve human nature and human community.  We have to start living by our ideals, judging things not by what works most efficiently, but by what’s good, what’s true, what’s beautiful - in other words, what’s right.” p. 229

Actually the guiding principle of free markets is, ...drum roll..., free markets.  That means a lack of government control which he seems to think we need more of to get rid of the efficiency.  The opposite of efficiency is inefficiency, not what’s beautiful.  I understand that efficiency can go so far that it dehumanizes us but a lack of efficiency can starve us to death or have us run out of energy to heat the house in the middle of winter.

He uses a lot of jargon.  By that I mean words that have an accepted meaning but can be used in a nonsense way to confuse and distract.  

He seems to know words.  He writes well.  But he doesn’t seem to get the big picture.  One thing he said had me rolling in the aisles,

 “In 2005, the Economist, not a magazine known for its liberal sympathies, opined that ‘the greening of conservatism is a revolution waiting to happen.’” p. 168.

Actually, the Economist is known for its liberal sympathies.  I had a six month subscription about the time he is writing and it was very clear they were on the left.  The thing I appreciated was they did not hide it and actually made an attempt to be even handed and accurate.  Maybe that is what confused him.

I hope that the latest book is an indication of where he is today.  You might want to read it.

Dreher, Rod.  Crunchy Cons.  New York, Crown Forum, 2006.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-178: What Is That in New Speak?

We keep allowing the left to define the conversation.  They take words and change the meaning.  It is a reflection of the concept of “New Speak”.  Part of this is to confuse any opposition.  Part is simply to lie while appearing to tell the truth.  A good example would be the choice of  “pro-choice” for people who believe it is acceptable to kill your baby before it is born.  It is New Speak because they are against choice in anything that goes against their agenda.

What caught my attention was a paragraph in Live Not by Lies, by Rod Dreher.  He was comparing attitudes and thinking in early 20th century Europe with today’s America.  In the process he wrote the following,

“Arendt’s judgment of the postwar elites who recklessly thumbed their noses at respectability could easily apply to those of our own day who shove aside liberal principles like fair play, race neutrality, free speech, and free association as obstacles to equality.” p. 33

He is referring to Hannah Arendt and a book she wrote in 1951 called The Origins of Totalitarianism.  What struck me was the definition of “liberal principles” that he is assuming.  I don’t know about you but these are values I associate with conservative thinking today.  The modern liberal is out to destroy all of these values.

I have heard before that the classic liberal of the past has a lot in common with the conservatives of today.  This would back up that declaration.  I wonder if we could begin to reclaim some of the words that have been stolen from us by the creeping scourge of the Proregressives*.  Every day it gets harder.  Now you can get in trouble for saying “he” or “him”.  Keep in mind that they are just beginning.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Synonym for swamp dwellers)

Dreher, Rod.  Live Not by Lies.  New York:  Sentinel, 2020.

homo unius libri