http://counterbias.com/266.html
An Introduction to American StupidSpeak
April 6 2005
by Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D., Professor of English at Pennsylvania State
University.
If you're living in the American theocracy under the reign of King
George the W, learning American StupidSpeak (*****) is an unfortunate
necessity.
But the process is quite easy and requires no thought, just an empty
mind.
With that in mind, let's begin.
For pre-election 2004 classic examples of *****, go to the on-line
archives of Focus on the Family, an organization run by Dr. James
Dobson of SpongeBob fame. http://www.family.org/
There you can find the article "Debate-Tested Sound Bites on
Defending Marriage" by Glenn T. Stanton.
Just click for downloadable "helpful, debate-tested soundbites for
defenders of natural marriage and the family."
"Natural marriage"?
Prior to *****, "natural marriage" would have been a flashing neon
oxymoron.
Sex is natural.
"Marriage" is a word denoting a highly contrived civil contract the
historical purpose of which was to convey property and legacy, as well
as to secure financial perks and legal rights.
For most of the history of the institution called "marriage," the
unions were arranged, the wife (wives and/or concubines approved in
Gen: 4:19, 29:17-28, II Samuel 3:2-5, 5:13 and I Kings 11:3) were
little more than property and love, although sometimes involved, was
certainly not necessary.
"Defenders of the family"?
In this usage, ***** demonstrates how it transmogrifies the real-world
quality of other forms of communication, such as Polynesian languages
that have no words for "ice" and Eskimo languages that have no words
for "palm trees."
***** recognizes only heterosexual families: families with same-sex
parents are simply not part of the lexicon and, therefore,
non-existent in the ***** zeitgeist.
For example, all the evangelical Christian Right lobbying groups call
themselves "pro-family" despite the fact that they vehemently fight
any form of benefits for same-sex families.
Before *****, the validity of the "pro-family" identification would have
been negated by real-world facts such as those from the Adoption
Family Center that document there are between 8 and 10 million
children being reared in gay and lesbian families.
The same "pro-family" groups also clearly speak through their ***** when
they claim to be trying to "protect the children" while they
vigorously oppose any measures that would help protect gay and lesbian
children in the nation's public schools.
An early 2005 report issued by Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbian and Gays (PFLAG) documented that 95% of counseling services in
the nation's public schools have little or no gay, lesbian or bisexual
resources.
Focus on the Family's CitizenLink began its story about the PFLAG
report with this:
"A major support group for the relatives of homosexuals has released
its analysis of the nation's schools, and while many family advocates
will find the results encouraging."
It's "encouraging" that gay, lesbian and bisexual students are
unsupported and, therefore, made even more vulnerable to the effects
of the bullying, harassment and violence faith-based ***** and its
antigay rhetoric promote?
What kind of "Christian pro-family protect-the-children" attitude is
that?
Rhetorical questions, to be sure.
CitizenLink's use of "encouraging" is a brilliant example of the
"holy" ***** attitude.
The arguments by members of these "Christian pro-family
protect-the-children" groups also demonstrate a fundamental principle
of *****:
any statement is rendered "true" simply by adding the word "God," a
reference to Christian dogma, or the phrase "religious conscience."
For example, in the summer of 2004, four landlords in Allentown, PA
refused to rent to gay people, thereby violating a city
anti-discrimination ordinance.
The landlords were sued.
But a section of Pennsylvania's Home Rule Act, which includes
Allentown, prevented the city from requiring businesses and employers
not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender, so the
landlords won the case.
Following the decision, the landlords' attorney, Randall L. Wenger,
made the following ***** holy statement:
"It's a complete victory. It allows them to exercise their religious
conscience in the way that they see fit."
Exercising their "religious conscience" as they saw fit was exactly
what the 9-11 terrorists did, hence the necessity that only
fundamentalist Christian dogma be referenced in any ***** statement.
The Traditional Values Coalition is a veritable paragon on *****.
Last summer they teamed up with a group of ultra-conservative clergy
to damn homosexuality, same-sex marriage and gay people not only
because that was "God's will," but also to "debunk" the claim by gays
and lesbians that their fight for the legal right to a civil marriage
is a "civil rights" issue.
(An image of the group is still posted on TVC's website:
www.traditionalvalues.org, lower left side of the page.)
Before political ***** was penetrated by religious fundamentalists,
citizens' legal right to enter into a civil marriage would have
constituted the definition of "civil rights."
Another long-time expert in ***** - even long before it was called that
- is the Roman Catholic Church.
The Crusades, the Holy Inquisition, the torture and slaughter of
indigenous peoples in the New World, and the Salem witch hunts attest
to the RCC's long-term use of *****.
In his late 2004 message to visiting US bishops and the visiting US
president, the pope decreed that "In the face of such erroneous yet
pervasive thinking [ie, thought not based on ***** or church doctrine]
you must do everything possible to encourage the laity in their
special responsibility for evangelizing culture and promoting
Christian values in society and public life."
The ***** definition of "do everything possible" is closely allied with
exercising one's "religious conscience" in the way one is told to "see
fit." (See Allentown example above.)
Focus on the Family, Traditional Values Coalition, fundamentalist
clergy and the Roman Catholic Church are good, but the avatar of
American StupidSpeak is George W. Bush.
His expertise is so widely recognized that *****'s one and only dialect
bears his name:
BushSpeak (BS).
For a more detailed exegesis of Avatar Bush's *****, see Maureen Dowd's
"Welcome to Bushworld, where things aren't what they appear to be,"
New York Times, May 27, 2004, but consider this example.
Paul M. Weyrich, national chairman of an amalgam of conservative
organizations known as Coalitions for America, advised George W. that
he needed to shift the focus of his reelection campaign from Iraq to
the gay marriage issue in order to be successful in November.
GWB responded by reiterating his opposition to gay marriage in remarks
to the Southern Baptist Convention (June 2004), saying that
"government, by strengthening and protecting marriage, serves the
interests of all."
The definition of "all" in Mr. Bush's statement is the epitome of *****
BS.
It's rivaled only by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's definition of
"legitimate interrogation methods" at Abu Ghraib and former Attorney
General Ashcroft's definition of "respect for personal privacy" when
he subpoenaed the personal medical records of women who had had late
term abortions at Philadelphia's Hahnemann University Hospital.
And it is matched only by Mr. Bush's own usages, such as campaigning
in 1999 as a "uniter."
In the brave new world of ***** BS, "uniter" refers to someone who
divides the global community by invading two sovereign non-Christian
nations and then divides the population of his own country into
heterosexuals who have civil rights and homosexuals who do not.
The ***** etymology of "uniter" derives from earlier BS:
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should
they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." - George
H. W. Bush.
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
Scientology murder: http://PerkinsTragedy.org
Improving the herd: http://www.rightard.org/
http://www.religiousfreedomwatch.org/extremists/ricef.html
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