In George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel 1984, control of language is crucial to the Party’s ironclad rule.
The Party’s “Newspeak” seeks to control not just what people say but how they say it. By excluding some words, redefining others and creating new ones, the Party manipulates thought and action, and, most importantly, squelches dissent.
President Donald Trump’s version of Newspeak is equally dangerous. It’s a common feature among totalitarian regimes: a method of speaking anchored in lies. Thus, the violent, heavily Christian Nationalist mob that sacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, becomes “tourists.” Legal residents of this country who disagree with the president are “terrorists.” Enemies become allies, and allies are abandoned. Truth, facts and data mean nothing in the face of lies repeated over and over at a loud volume.
Lately, there has been much talk in Trumpworld about ferreting out “anti-Christian bias.” It’s important to understand what the term “bias” means in this context.
In some parts of the world – China, North Korea and Somalia come to mind – Christians suffer actual bias. People can be imprisoned, harassed, killed or otherwise sanctioned for their faith.
That’s not what Trump and his Christian Nationalist allies mean when they speak of “bias” against Christians. In the Trumpspeak, if you oppose a Christian Nationalist’s attempt to impose his/her religion on you or others, you are guilty of “bias.”
Here are some examples: If you oppose government using your tax dollars to display and maintain Christian symbols in public places, you are guilty of “bias.” If you’d rather not have your children exposed to fundamentalist religion in public schools by official policies that mandate displays of religious codes and theological statements, you’ve engaged in “bias.” If you resist your reproductive choices being governed by a stranger’s religion or if you vocally support full rights for your LGBTQ+ family and friends, you are guilty of “bias” – and perhaps oppression.
If you want to be able to go to a public library and access books that religious extremists don’t like, you are obviously attacking their rights and are a biased bigot. If you believe all religious people and those of no faith should have equal rights in society and that fundamentalist Christians should not get preferential treatment simply because they demand it, that’s just more of your bias.
Trump has announced the creation of a task force led by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to end “anti-Christian bias” in federal agencies. Americans United has been exposing this scheme for what it is: Yet another attempt by Trump and his Christian Nationalist toadies to fuse a particular version of the Christian faith (far to the right in politics and fundamentalist in theology) with our nation’s laws.
Far from fighting bias, Trump and his minions plan to use the considerable resources of the federal government to help angry right-wing moms who live in a state of perpetual outrage over the existence of LGBTQ+ people, or they’ll side with fundamentalist zealots who want to convert the noble principle of religious freedom into a device for grotesque forms of discrimination. (And in the great tradition of oppressive governments, they plan to rely on a time-tested tool: anonymous sources who make accusations and rat out others.)
Words have meaning. Words have power. Words can change people’s minds.
That’s why Trump and his allies seek to control language. It’s also why we must oppose all efforts by the Christian Nationalists who worship at the font of this anti-democratic, un-American administration to redefine words to the point of unrecognizability.
Photo: Attorney General Pam Bondi. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
