One of the most (if not THE most) important distinguishing features of Neo-Obscurantism is the use of language as a tool for mass manipulation and thought-suppression.
Mainstream media communicate with the masses using a specific language that superficially looks indistinguishable from our ordinary everyday language, but where words have completely different, ever-changing, and sometimes diametrically opposite meanings.
This tactic is called Semantic Hijacking, and its purpose is to manipulate people into acting in ways that go against their own ideals and interests, compromise rational debate through confusion and obfuscation, and sowing discord between allies.
This tactic relies on the fact that irrational people tend to reason in terms of words and symbols rather than concepts; once a concept, or an ideal has been established as positive or negative, this acception will quickly be projected onto words and symbols standing for it, drawing attention away the original concept/ideal that can therefore be subtly changed or replaced with an opposite one without people noticing.
In other word, a word/symbol standing for a positive idea can be used as a "vector" to push harmful ones, and/or the other way around.
The trick for this tactic to work in the best possible way is that the new meaning of a word must never completely replace the original ones; rather, it should be allowed to coexist with it, so that the word becomes as equivocal and ambiguous as possible.
The reason is simple: if the meaning of a word gets simply flipped once and for all, people might eventually adapt to the new meaning and re-adjust their perception of it, and the word will quickly lose its manipulatory power.
Instead, having many different incompatible meanings stay in a single word allows manipulators to switch between those meanings at will depending on the circumstances, to manipulate audiences in any way they want without them noticing.
This kind of ambiguity is also useful for another reason: it compromises proper communication and rational debate, encouraging internal infighting among the opposition and splitting it into factions.
The following table exposes a partial list of terms whose meaning has been subverted by mass-media, indicating the level of subversion through a color code:
(cyan: original meaning)
(green: partially altered meaning)
(yellow: radically altered meaning)
(red: completely inverted meaning)
Original definitionwhat the given word actually means | Mediatic definitionwhat mainstream media actually intend with it |
"conspiracy theory" |
"Any theory implying the existence of a group of people organizing in secret in order to gain personal advantage by damaging another group of people." | "Any theory (or fact) that implies the existence of a group of people organizing in order to damage another group of people and/or gaining personal advantage (regardless of the level of secrecy), which is impossible." "The sin of exposing a conflict of interests on the side of governments and/or corporations." "Any information or theory (regardless of whether implies a conspiracy or not) that contradicts the official narrative, and must therefore be suppressed." "Fact-checking the claims made by official authorities or mainstream media." |
"democracy" |
"System of government where most of the decisional power is held by the common people." | "System of government where the people have any amount of decisional power (no matter how insignificant)." "Any country with more than 1 political party." "Situation where people believe what we tell them to believe, and behave how we tell them to behave." "Any state that is allied to ours, and/or promotes our interests." "System of government where the decisional power over a selected portion of secundary, marginally relevant issues is held by common people, while the decisive factors that determine people's lives are decided by an unaccountable oligarchy." |
"disinformation" |
"False information." | "Any information or argument that contradicts the official stance on a determined issue (regardless of whether is true or false)." |
"left" |
"Any idea/ideology that`s based on the premise that all people should have the same rights and duties, and as such, seeks to distribute wealth and power as uniformly as possible." | "Any idea/ideology that rejects traditional customs and values, and seeks to replace them with new ones." "People and parties who physically sit on the left side of the parliament, and everything that's promoted by them." "Any idea/ideology that attempts to restrict individual freedom and ownership (regardless of whether this will benefit the collectivity or not)." |
"liberalism" |
"Ideology that strives to extend freedom and human rights to the highest possible number of people." | "Ideology that strives to extend freedom and human rights to traditionally disadvantaged people." "Ideology striving to defend the rights and freedoms of rich and powerful people." "Acritical support of anything that`s promoted by mainstream media." "Political correctness." "Ideology striving for the suppression of any idea that's perceived as "offensive" or "dangerous"." |
"misinformation" |
"Information that is presented in a misleading way." | "Any information or argument that might suggest (no matter if correctly or not) the idea that official stance on a determined issue is wrong." |
"privilege" |
"Undeserved excess of wealth or power compared to what all people normally deserve." | "Having the wealth and power that all people normally deserve, in case that someone else doesn't." "Not being currently oppressed as much as someone else is or was in the past." "Synonim of human right." |
"racism" |
"Hostility/discrimination towards other people on the basis of racial prejudices." | "Hostility/discrimination towards people of color (and only them)." "Recognizing the existence of human races, or biologic differences between different ethnic groups (regardless of any evidence or intent behind such ideas)." "Any idea/action/word that might possibly be perceived as offensive towards people of color (regardless of the intent)." "Being proud of being white." |
"rationality" |
"Thinking and/or arguing by correctly following the rules of logic." | "Synonim of common sense." "Blindly trusting authority." |
"right" |
"Any idea/ideology that`s based on the premise that determined people should have more/less rights and/or duties than others, and as such, seeks to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a selected group." | "Any idea/ideology that seeks to preserve traditional customs and values." "People and parties who physically sit on the right side of the parliament, and everything that's promoted by them." "Any idea/ideology that attempts to enhance individual freedom and self-ownership (regardless of whether this will harm the collectivity or not)." "Any idea/ideology that promotes the interests of the common people rather than those of an oligarchy." |
"science" |
"Methodology of understanding of reality based on rational analysis of empyrical evidence." | "Arbitrary label that, by its sole existence, qualify a statement as unquestionably true." "Supernatural/metaphysical entity that determines what is true and what is false." "Community of people who are officially/academically recognized as scientists, and everything they say." "Selected group of people promoted as "experts" by mainstream media, and everything they say." |
"sexism" |
"hostility/discrimination towards other people on the basis of their sex/gender" | "hostility or discrimination towards females (and only them)" "any amount of sexualization of the female body" "anything that might possibly be perceived as offensive towards females (regardless of the intent)" |
"skepticism" |
"Suspension of judgement in absence of arguments/evidences strong enough to reach a definitive answer." | "Dogmatic a-priori rejection of anything that`s not accepted by official/academic sources (regardless of any amount of evidence/arguments in its favor)." "Dogmatic a-priori rejection of anything that goes against common sense or everyday experience (regardless of any amount of evidence/arguments in its favor)." |
"socialism" |
"Economic system where the workers have considerable amount of power in managing/organizing the economy." | "System of government where all power is concentrated in the hands of the state." |
