Language Does Not Lie

[jwirr]

Just watched this documentary on Sundance Channel. Takes a
look at the nazi use of language to manipulate people. Worth
watching if you can find it. 

[cuke]

1. Clue #1 - No one knows what you're talking about

[Gormy Cuss]

3. It's a film by Victor Klemperer.

IMDB has an entry but no synopsis.

[LynzM]

7. Clue #2... please ask nicely, if you don't understand someone.

[hisownpetard]

2. If you use language to tell a lie, then language lies. So, your title... ?

[maddezmom]

5. here is a link to a synopsis

http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500062969

[hisownpetard]

8. OH, I get it now! Thanks for clarifying. Sounds like an interesting film. nt

[Not_Giving_Up]

4. I have this sitting on my DVR...Glad to hear it's good

Now I know what to watch later!

[LynzM]

6. Sounds interesting.

I see it going on now, here.... goes on everywhere, all the time, though what extent seems to differ. I noted recently the use of "the individual" in place of "the person" when referring to 'detainees' at Gitmo, again, not "people." /sigh I'll take a peek at this one you mentioned, if I can find it.

[jwirr]

9. That is why I thought it was interesting. I especially recognized the

"everything is going just great" propaganda by Hitler and co. which pretty much matches *ss and co. talk on how we are winning in Iraq. I was also interested in the background photos.

[Igel]

10. There was a rather famous book in Czech

writer by an eponymous "Peter Fidelius" that made the same points, I'd guess, but based on at how Communists twisted language to deceive.

To this day when I hear "the people" used to exclude and dehumanize, shifting definitions to suit the whim of the speaker and his political goals, I get pissed. In any event ...

We know more about language now. Talking about the kinds of manipulation that uses primitive semantic shifts and mixed associations is old hat. Still novel for a lot of people, but old hat.

There are much nicer examples of manipulation where it's harder to pin down the source, because the source is to be found in the unstated expectations and conventions between speaker and hearer, expectations that are formed when kids are 4 years old, and not something that can be easily explained by recourse to fine-grained distinctions in vocabulary or mere hypotaxis. Or in priming effects, where neural associations are triggered by low-level pre-conscious linguistic processes.

[Gonzo Gardener]

11. Bush & friends have adopted many Third Reich catch phrases.

Many here have been commenting on this topic

OP by mmonk: 'Coincidental incidentals'
check post #3

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2038231


"The use of adopted terminology hints as to the ideology of the speaker."

Worldview and linguistics

"A worldview describes a consistent (to a varying degree) and integral sense of existence and provides a framework for generating, sustaining, and applying knowledge.
The linguistic relativity hypothesis of Benjamin Lee Whorf describes how the syntactic-semantic structure of a language becomes an underlying structure for the Weltanschauung of a people through the organization of the causal perception of the world and the linguistic categorization of entities. As linguistic categorization emerges as a representation of worldview and causality, it further modifies social perception and thereby leads to a continual interaction between language and perception.

The theory, or rather hypothesis, was well received in the late 1940s, but declined in prominence after a decade. In the 1990s, new research gave further support for the linguistic relativity theory, in the works of Stephen Levinson and his team at the Max Planck institute for Psycholinguistics at Nijmegen, The Netherlands The theory has also gained attention through the work of Lera Boroditsky at Stanford University.

the language of the Third Reich, Weltanschauungen came to designate the instinctive understanding of complex geo-political problems by the Nazis, which allowed them to act in the name of a higher ideal and in accordance to their theory of the world. These acts perceived outside that unique Weltanschauung are now commonly perceived as acts of aggression, such as openly beginning invasions, twisting facts, and violating human rights."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view






I'll have to check out this film. Thanks!