Postmodern Politics and Manipulation of Language

QUESTION: Postmodern Politics – Manipulation of Language

ANSWER:

One strategy Postmodernists use in pursuit of their political goals is the manipulation of language. Someone once noted that we will either master words or be mastered by those who do. Postmodernists have mastered the manipulation of language to such an extent that what used to be considered shameful, immoral, or bad behavior is now heralded as progressive.

Postmodern Politics – Language of Tolerance
Postmodernists have succeeded in gaining public acceptance of the following:

• Believing in the sanctity of heterosexual marriage is a mark of backwardness, while favoring legalization of same-sex marriage is a mark of broadmindedness.
  
  
• Expressing belief in a male Christ is a mark of bigotry, while preferring the female Christ (Christa) is a mark of discernment.
  
  
• Campaigning for abstinence education is restrictive, while promoting “free love” and revolution is a mark of liberation.
  
  
• Not allowing children to be taught about the homosexual lifestyle is a throwback to religious narrow-mindedness, bigotry, and the ultimate negative label, “intolerant,” while teaching students to embrace homosexuality as a healthy lifestyle is a mark of inclusion and tolerance.¹

These kinds of language games contribute to reorienting the masses to an acceptance of the Postmodern political agenda for changing society.

Notes:

Rendered with permission from the book,Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews(Rev. 2^nd ed), David Noebel, Summit Press, 2006. Compliments of John Stonestreet, David Noebel, and the Christian Worldview Ministry at Summit Ministries. All rights reserved in the original.

¹ Alan Sears and Craig Osteen, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing The Principal Threat To Religious Freedom Today (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2003). Postmodernists approve homosexuality along with polymorphous perversity and sexuality of any kind.