The Language of Non Thought
There are a lot of thought terminating clichés inserted, apparently meaningfully, in the political discourse nowadays. Take for example “urban naxal” or “presstitute” or “lutyens lobby” or “khan market gang”, “tukde tukde gang”…. Did you ever realize that there is a system or a method to this madness?
“Thinking is difficult, so most people judge” – Carl Jung
Have you folks ever noticed that ever since BJP [and its mentors - the Hindutva cults] came to power; the language of political discourse has changed?
There are a lot of thought terminating clichés inserted, apparently meaningfully, in the discourse. Take for example “urban naxal” or “presstitute” or “lutyens lobby” or “khan market gang”, “tukde tukde gang”….
Did you ever realize that there is a system or a method to this madness?
This is invariably the loaded language of a totalist environment. Loading the language was noticed first by Lionel Trilling in his noted collection of essays “The liberal Imagination” published in 1950. These thought terminating clichés reduce the most far reaching and complex human problems like freedom of expression, natural justice, equality before state etc into brief, highly reductive, definitive sounding phrases easily memorized and texted over Whatsapp and other social media. These become the start and the finish of any ideological analysis.
In addition to their function as interpretive shortcuts that cut short the detail analysis, these clichés become ultimate terms – either representative of ultimate good or representative of the ultimate evil. The clichés actually represent the black and white thinking or the totalist, cultic ideation. Some Indian cults would for instance classify human beings into thought terminating “sajjan” and “durjan”!
This typical totalist jargon is highly categorical and relentlessly judging. To anyone other than its devoted advocate such language is dull and devoid of intellectual substance. The fact is this anti intellectual or thought terminating nature is the direct goal of such language of non thought.
There is another reason for this apparently nonsensical jargon. It is an essential part of an expression of unity and exclusiveness of the totalist forces. “He or she talks like us” is equivalent of saying “he or she is one of us”.
Language – like any other product – can thus be owned and operated by the totalist movement.
Although such loaded language becomes useful to the cause of the fascist movement, to the individual who is a victim to such thought terminating clichés, it has one disastrous consequence – CONSTRICTION OF ONE’S CAPACITY TO THINK, FEEL AND ACT REASONABLY. Such language also makes one linguistically challenged and unable to express oneself in a non judgmental way. Everyone who is a victim of such linguistics is profoundly confined by these verbal fetters.
This is the way the totalists work – disempowering the individual thinking faculty of the idealist follower so that he can be easily manipulated through a vertical allegiance with the psychopathic leader of the totalist – cultic movement.
“Thinking is difficult, so most people judge” – Carl Jung
That is so arrogant of you, probably you are alluding that you are that 'thinkers' and others are 'judges'. What a joke. Your analysis and thinking is so one sided and targeting only one community and party. Probably you have something personal against them.