“One of the most marked traits of authoritarians is attributing their own vices to their opponents. This tactic seeks to level the political playing field by lowering it to their level, while at the same time emptying the words of meaning and then filling them with their own whims, lies and authoritarian phobias.” - Pedro X. Molina

George Orwell's 1984 gets invoked a lot these days, but what happened to the word 'woke' is exactly what was intended with Newspeak. Per Wikipedia, "Orwell explains that Newspeak follows most rules of English grammar, yet is a language characterized by a continually diminishing vocabulary; complete thoughts are reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning." With 'woke' we see the entire project of humanism reduced to a stupid insult. Shamefully, many political commentators not on the authoritarian right still use this lazy shorthand to belittle activists or anything vaguely socially conscious, invoking the right's pejorative framing.

With editorial cartooning increasingly an endangered species, please consider supporting them if you possibly can.

                 

Article Categories: Toons