Michael J. Knowles

A surprisingly good book, given that the author's only other work is, apparently, a one note joke. I have had trouble reading books by Ben Shapiro; clearly Shapiro has found an audience, but I'm not it; his writing is just so choppy and disconnected. Knowles does a great deal better.

In the Preface, he does manage to set up an argument, which is pretty basic: "political correctness" is a standard of speech, often arbitrary and incoherent, enforced capriciously but ferociously. Conservatives need to respond, not with general appeals to free speech, or by adopting the PC language, but by adhering to and enforcing their own standards. In other words, it would be good to see some conservative principles in action.

Chapter 1: The West in Wonderland
When new words are invented for old ones to support an ideology, then the words have a new meaning that advances that ideology. Guaranteed.

Chapter 2: Redefining Reality
The same as Chapter 1, actually, with the additional point that agreeing to or saying false things is considered a virtue if saying true things would make someone unhappy. This chapter also includes a rather foolish excursion into efforts to simplify English spelling or use less Latin. I think that the wish to simplify spelling goes back as far as Benjamin Franklin. Only philologists like English spelling; I admit that I'm a philologist. But it makes phonics-based reading instruction harder. And the people who wanted to get Latin out of the language had cool ideas, although the only substitute word I can remember is "sun-shelf" for "horizon". These people wanted to make the language more robust, not less.… (más)

Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds by Michael Knowles is a very highly recommended, intelligent, thoughtful, and engrossing examination of how political correctness has distorted our use of language resulting in a change in our culture and how we view the world. This change in language and meaning did not come about through natural linguistic development. It has been a cultural assault planned and carried out by liberal academic and bureaucratic extremists who created the new words, there meaning, and how we should react. Then the new acceptable term and our expected reactions have been repeated verbatim by almost all journalists. Watching this and noticing the repetition of the same exact wording by so called journalists has been eye-opening and frightening. Decades of incompetence on both sides has permitted political correctness to invert our culture. The Culture War is over, and we have all lost.

The right are criticized because they allowed this to happen. All cultures cancel some ideas and things over time. The current problem is with what is canceled and why, along with who establishes the standards. The problem is a very small percentage of the population is radically trying to changing the culture without any sort of cultural agreement on these changes or set agreed upon standards. Conservatives need to summon the courage to speak up for the enforcement of their own standards of speech minus the politically correct standards set by the liberals.

There is so much more to Knowles discussion which will be appreciated by anyone who is an intellectual, appreciates a dense discussion with a plethora of quotes, footnotes, and sources, and can think for themselves about current cultural changes. Knowles provides in the appendix a glossary of jargon, a list of works cited, a copious section of notes, and a helpful index. This would make a great gift.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/11/speechless.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4364628515… (más)