Newspeak, Wordsmithing, and the Semantics of Security

If you've read George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 (do it now, if you haven't), you know the concept of "Newspeak," the language imposed by the government to manipulate its version of both history and current events and to prevent independent thought.

Newspeak is alive and well in 2025 in the service of President Musk, PINO Der Furor, and the organs of their administration. Examples:

The deadly riot and storming of the Capitol on January 6th, in which five people were killed and millions of dollars in damage done to the Capitol Building was a "normal tourist day," and a "day of love."

Tesla Swasticars Cybertrucks tend to shed pieces of themselves on the highway as a result of "environmental embrittlement," rather than, "use of cheap glue instead of actual structural connectors."

SpaceX rocket boosters are lost not because of fiery explosions, but as a result of "rapid unscheduled disassembly."

An election won by 2,300,000 votes - 77,303,000 to 75,018,000 -  is an "historic," "powerful," and "unprecedented" mandate."

It is also alive and well as a bevy of administration officials who ought to have known better twist themselves into semantic knots to explain away their incompetence and stupidity in discussing an upcoming military strike in a commercial communications system known to be vulnerable to compromise. Nothing to see here, folks, just move along. It's not classified, and if it is classified it's not important and anyways, Hillary Clinton's e-mails were far more dangerous than the possible loss of our military personnel conducting a strike whose secrecy had been compromised. And oh, by the way, the reporter is a sleazebag who contributes to Democrats.

White House Press Secretary Katherine Leavitt dismissed the incident with her usual huff of contempt

“The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans' ... This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”

Her boss, Der Furor himself, characterized what was widely recognized by experts as an extraordinary security breach as a "minor transgression," and that the outrage over it constituted a "witch hunt." The Orange Airhorn's decades of deep experience with military operations, intelligence, and security evidently empower him to make such dismissive judgements.

But as military veteran and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a post on Bluesky,

"They're not going to get out of this by playing semantics ... Sending detailed information about an upcoming military strike on unclassified channels (and even to the wrong guy) is wrong, reckless, and obviously a threat to American troops."

Yes, Dear Readers, Newspeak is alive and well in Der Furor's America, and even some of the most die-hard conservative commentators can't stomach it ... right-wing shouting head Tomi Lahren wrote on X, 

“Trying to wordsmith the hell outta this signal debacle is making it worse. It was bad. And I’m honestly getting sick of the whatabout isms from my own side. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Admit the F up and move on.”

Well, yes ... but don't move on. Demand the accountability that Der Furor and his minions always demand of others. You won't ever see it, but you'll feel better for at least having asked.

Have a good day. Don't use Newspeak if you can help it, and don't let your elected reprehensibles use it, either.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo