Ordinary Totalitarianism and Performative Language
- Ariane Bilheran
- Sep 22, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 31, 2025
La Lucarne by Ariane Bilheran, in Antipresse 460 - September 22, 2024.
Confusing words with actions is a sign of regression into childhood, specifically into magical thinking. But when this magical thinking becomes the way adults operate, and a collective one at that, we are facing a seriously ill society.
The engineering of lies encourages us to increasingly question the disguise of language. We have already done this from several angles, starting with Klemperer's reflections on the Nazi language. Newspeak—the language of totalitarianism—proceeds by deconstruction of a perverse type (disconnections, etc.) and delusional reconstruction of a paranoid type.
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