The Problem of Pain – C. S. Lewis (1940)
There is a huge deal at the moment about the right to free-speech however, it seems to me to be one of the things that is tempered at every turn, especially under the guise of political correctness.
Right Speech is part of the Nobel Eightfold Path trodden by those striving for enlightenment, and basically mean endeavouring to avoid gossip, spreading lies and the use of all forms of abusive language. Words can change lives. The use of wrong speech can lead to disharmony and even incite physical violence but more powerful than that, they can rally people together to support each other, and not always in good way.
I happily admit that I am in no way a political animal and most of the time I haven’t got a clue what is going on as far as it is concerned, especially in the rest of the world. Having said that I am becoming fascinated with the exploits of the new USA president, from a linguistic point of view that is.
The media is rife with things that he is saying that are so easily proved to be blatant lies and his response seems to entail that he is only repeating something he has heard or seen. Now this is never going to be a new thing, especially within politics but, in the past if this kind of thing became known, there was usually a spin-doctor that would minimise the impact. This, to my untrained and unqualified rational no longer seems to be the case. A senior advisor responded to allegations of blatant inaccuracies by The White House Press Secretary as, Alternative facts … ?
To quote Mark Twain, Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.