Peter MacKay and the language of nothing

"Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Here it is in modern English:

Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

This is a parody, but not a very gross one. Exhibit (3) above, for instance, contains several patches of the same kind of English. It will be seen that I have not made a full translation. The beginning and ending of the sentence follow the original meaning fairly closely, but in the middle the concrete illustrations -- race, battle, bread -- dissolve into the vague phrases "success or failure in competitive activities." This had to be so, because no modern writer of the kind I am discussing -- no one capable of using phrases like "objective considerations of contemporary phenomena" -- would ever tabulate his thoughts in that precise and detailed way. The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness. Now analyze these two sentences a little more closely. The first contains forty-nine words but only sixty syllables, and all its words are those of everyday life. The second contains thirty-eight words of ninety syllables: eighteen of those words are from Latin roots, and one from Greek. The first sentence contains six vivid images, and only one phrase ("time and chance") that could be called vague. The second contains not a single fresh, arresting phrase, and in spite of its ninety syllables it gives only a shortened version of the meaning contained in the first. Yet without a doubt it is the second kind of sentence that is gaining ground in modern English."

George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

'Defence Minister Peter MacKay is trying to reassure Canadians that allegations of espionage centring on a Halifax naval intelligence officer will not affect the country's reputation among other NATO members.

"Our allies have full confidence in Canada, full confidence in our information," MacKay said during a news conference in Ottawa late Tuesday morning.

MacKay was responding to questions about the case of Sub.-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, 40, who was arrested in the Halifax area over the weekend. Delisle faces two charges under the Security of Information Act that deal with communicating information that could harm Canada's interests, according to court documents.

MacKay described the case as a matter of national security because of the charges involved. But he would not discuss specifics, including whether the foreign entity in question is Russia, as at least one intelligence expert has speculated.

"Given the early stages of the proceedings, there is really nothing more that can be said."'

CBC

Rats in the House of Commons

RON MACLEAN
You know Grapes, we're talking a lot about respect these days, and Brian Burke was going on about how rats are taking over the league, on account of there being no tough guys to sort them out...

DON CHERRY
I agree with Burke 100%!

RON MACLEAN
...but I seem to remember you had your own rat epidemic, as was shown on "Keep Your Head Up, Kid" and you had to exterminate them for Rose.

DON CHERRY
Those were mice. The league doesn't have a mouse problem, it's got a rat problem. Big difference.

RON MACLEAN
So I'm wondering how you see that in the House of Commons...Tony Clement was musing on Twitter about how your views on rats got him thinking..

DON CHERRY
Clement was where? 

RON MACLEAN
On Twitter.

DON CHERRY
You know, I'm starting to think he's part of the problem not part of the solution. But yeah, the House of Commons has a huge rat problem.  I read somewhere they have the same problem in Britain.

RON MACLEAN
I thought you might see it that way. Got some examples for us?

DON CHERRY
Almost too numerous to mention. There was the Bev Oda "NOT" incident...

RON MACLEAN
Yes...

DON CHERRY
The Jason Kenney - George Loudmouth Galloway Immigration incident...

RON MACLEAN
Yes...

DON CHERRY
The Peter McKay helicopter incident...

RON MACLEAN
Yes...

DON CHERRY
The Rob Nicholson intimidation of witnesses incident...

RON MACLEAN
Yes...

DON CHERRY
The Peter Kent "piece of shit" incident...

RON MACLEAN
Yes, but that was Justin Trudeau calling Peter Kent a piece of shit...

DON CHERRY
Yeah, well, Trudeau was calling him out. It's a rat move by Kent and I have no doubt Trudeau would have taken him on, given the chance, like happened during an incident of "grave disorder" in the British House of Commons...

RON MACLEAN
That was where a Major Molson (no relation)  hauled a Mr. Devlin, representing the Falls Road in Belfast,  over the front bench as members of Molson's party shouted "kill him!"

DON CHERRY
Exactly. That's the kind of honourable players we need in this day and age, like Burke said. And yet he has to send Colton Orr back to the minors just because the guy can't play hockey...

RON MACLEAN
So that's it for us on House of Commons Night in Canada...

DON CHERRY
What did you think of the Marchand suspension?

RON MACLEAN
I think Shanahan got it right.

DON CHERRY
Kenny Linseman didn't.

RON MACLEAN
Well, Kenny was the original rat.

DON CHERRY
Not like Eddie Shore...

RON MACLEAN
Who is?

angolo del coach

TonyclementCPC Tony Clement

Coach's Corner gave me a lot to think about tonite...

Yeah.  It's important to tear up during the national anthem but not OK to take a ride on your stick after scoring a goal.  Somebody should of taken Marchand's head off after his hit on Sami Salo.  There's a rat epidemic.

These are all important lessons for the governance of Canada.

A Swedish Iranian in the Court of King Steve

  
Reuters/Andy Clark

RON MACLEAN
So it's me Ron MacLean here with Don Cherry on House of Commons Night in Canada, and it's been pretty busy, what with the Prime Minister attending the bronze medal hockey game at the World Junior Championship in Calgary.

DON CHERRY
Did he make the gold medal game?

RON MACLEAN
I really don't know.  I do know he was in the Canadian dressing room after their game as a surprise visitor to congratulate them on their win over Finland.

DON CHERRY
Yeah, I read that.  Don Hay told them their surprise visitor was Mr. Harper.

RON MACLEAN
But I don't know if he stuck around to watch the gold medal game.

DON CHERRY
If he didn't, he missed out.  That was a great game!

RON MACLEAN
Some people say it was a little one-sided.

DON CHERRY
People say a lot of things, but if it's 0-0 after three periods, it ain't one-sided.  I'll admit that Makarov stopped 57 shots, but I seem to recall Kirk McLean stopping 52 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final in 1994, and nobody complained about that, except of course in Manhattan.

RON MACLEAN
What did you think of the winning goal?

DON CHERRY
It was a beauty!  That Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kid has a great future.

RON MACLEAN
It was Mika Zibanejad.

DON CHERRY
It all sounds the same to me although I have to say it's a pretty weird name even for a Swede.

RON MACLEAN
His father's Iranian.

DON CHERRY
WHAT?  Does Harper know that?!

RON MACLEAN
Are you gonna do the piano thing again?

DON CHERRY
No, I'm taking up air guitar.

RON MACLEAN
Our ratings will go up for sure.

DON CHERRY
Listen!  For years they tried to get me to say French names, you know, parlez-vous and everything.  Then I had to learn Russian names.  Then it was Finnish, then it was Swedish and now it's the whole United Nations!

RON MACLEAN
Not exactly the UN. There's about 190 countries in the UN and you've said four of them.

DON CHERRY
That's three more than I can handle.  But having an Iranian kid score the gold medal goal for Sweden in Calgary the same day the Prime Minister says Iran is the biggest threat to world peace just strikes me as crazy or subversive.

RON MACLEAN
How so?

DON CHERRY
Isn't it obvious?

RON MACLEAN
No.

DON CHERRY
If Iran can produce hockey players like that, they might try to steal the Stanley Cup!  Then where would we be?

RON MACLEAN
Playing international hockey in Sochi.  It's only a couple of hours from Iran.

DON CHERRY
I don't think you're paranoid enough.  Excuse me while I bring up Stompin' Tom  on the air guitar.

RON MACLEAN
Anyway, the Prime Minister might not have been able to see the gold medal game because he was back in Ottawa appointing seven new Senators.

DON CHERRY
What fresh heck is this?  Did he come up with a new Silver Seven?  Who said he could appoint Senators?

RON MACLEAN
Not the hockey team, the actual appointments were to the Senate of Canada.

DON CHERRY
You had me worried for a minute there.

RON MACLEAN
But get this:  Mika Zibanejad is already an Ottawa Senator.

DON CHERRY
What!?  Harper appointed an Iranian to the Canadian Senate?

RON MACLEAN
No!  He's a Swede even though he's got an Iranian name.

DON CHERRY
Same difference. I need my piano.

RON MACLEAN
And,  Don,  Mr. Harper was actually appointing Senators to the Senate.  Zibanejad is an Ottawa Senator, on the hockey team, although they're letting him develop in Sweden.

DON CHERRY
Not Iran?

RON MACLEAN
No!

DON CHERRY
Thank God for that!  Now I'm thinking, you know, maybe we should just introduce hockey to Asia and the Middle East.  The United Nations could do that, organize the leagues and everything...

RON MACLEAN
And that's it for us at the World Juniors.

DON CHERRY
Waywaywaywaywaywaywait!  We're not gonna talk about the Bruins-Canucks game?

RON MACLEAN
Later.  This show's about politics.

DON CHERRY
It's all the same thing.  Harper wouldn't have been in Calgary if it wasn't.  Did he fly Business?

One more time! Article 8 of the Atlantic Charter

"Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments."

Terrorism in Canada

Section 83.01 of the Criminal Code of Canada (enacted in 2001) defines terrorism.  As far as I can see, everything defined as "terrorism" has already been criminal for a long time. It is not new, and in fact nothing has changed, including the desire of executive governments to find excuses to subvert the rule of law.  Murder is murder, mass murder is murder, conspiracy to commit murder is still conspiracy to commit murder.  No new legislation was required to prosecute the Air India Flight 182 disaster in 1985.  The Anti-Terrorism Act seems to be distinguished only by modification of existing legislation. Some of that modification - like Section 38.01 of the Canada Evidence Act - adds nothing to public safety in my opinion, but does add horrendous opportunities for the Canadian government to subvert the democratic process, as was seen in the Kafka-esque machinations against Richard Colvin.

Terrorism is a very small problem.  As George Orwell said:

"Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers."

And...

"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, "I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so." Probably, therefore, he will say something like this:

"'While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.'"

"The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. I should expect to find -- this is a guess which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify -- that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship.

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better."

Emphasis added.

As the United States Department of Fear would have it:  Ignorance causes fear.

America’s Silent Collapse

America’s Silent Collapse » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

by Sam Smith

Go, Sam!