“Live Not By Lies” Review of Rod Dreher (Part Six): The Importance of Language

“Misinformation” has become a term used by media outlets to detract from if not deny other points of view. National Public Radio, for instance, touts its “fact-based” reporting. Facebook has its “fact checkers” (see my comments on what happened to me from last week). The Washington Post has finally lifted the veil of “Democracy Dies in Darkness” as if we have now entered “the light.” And I continue to teach in the public university that says if you’re not hearing all sides of an issue you are not doing anything other than biased analysis.

This past week, for instance, I had my students watch an eight-minute video I created about “research” (you can watch it here). Among other principles I recited, these are five questions included in my presentation:

Could I be wrong?

Have I looked at all sides?

Am I broadminded?

Do my biases mislead?

Are my sources correct?

My questions run counter to the newly appropriated term “misinformation” acclaimed by “journalists” of our day. I use quotation marks not to denigrate the persons but wonder about the quality of their work. The latest calls to shut down Fox News, OAN, or Newsmax not to mention the outright removal of people’s opinions from social media (Kevin Sorbo’s Facebook page was removed without warning or specific reasoning which, by the way, was only reported at Fox News). My point here is not to defend the perspectives of these news groups or Mr. Sorbo. But I will always rise to stand for freedom of speech.

Enter 1984 and Dreher’s opening quotation in chapter six

Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.

Dreher quotes Olga Rusanova who grew up in Siberia saying that the Soviet state “killed all the people who could remember history” (117). Yes, this chapter is about “cultural memory” (which I reviewed in part one of this series). But I would go a step farther. Again, from this week’s assignments in my “Argumentative Writing” class I recounted one of my mantras which I have been reciting for decades

Whoever controls the definition, controls the conversation.

Dreher references the problem as one of “ideological abuse of language” (119). I am witness to the abuse every week at the university. I hear it in the written assignments of my students who have obviously fallen under its spell from other professors. One young person this week suggested that her elderly grandparents (who watch Fox News) need to broaden their “conservative” perspectives. One of my comments on her paper was “Do you know any ‘progressives’ who need to do the same thing?”

Another video I created for my class is entitled “words” (you can watch it here). Some of my ideas in this review you can find there as well. Words are important because

Words have power. Words then shape the way we think. Words are necessary to interpret what we see. Words express our interpretation of the world. Words counteract the drive toward the visual alone. Words will always interpret our visual world.

So, what to do? I remember a crucial scene toward the end of the British film Fahrenheit 451 where numerous individuals are walking around a park reciting the books they have memorized. My memory of that scene was aroused when I read “create small fortresses of memory” (117). We, ourselves, become the bearers of books. “Sanctuary cities” (120) took on a whole new meaning for me – apart from our current cultural context about cities being open to illegal immigrants – when Dreher called for a “parallel polis“ whereby we could skirt the totalitarian effects of coercion. Looking “critically on what they’re reading and seeing” (125) is another way I combat the hostage taking of words. How often have I told my students over the years,

“I don’t want you to believe anything I tell you“?!

So I end this brief review of chapter six by positing sacrosanct biblical principles about teaching (written originally here):

As a Christian professor (one who professes Christian belief) I search for true Truth; I want the same for my students. So I pass out tools. I dedicate myself to a 5-fold Truth-search plan:

(1) assimilate true truth, explaining intentional doctrinal instruction (Psalm 119:160);

(2) discover truth, demonstrating ownership through self-study of Scripture (Acts 17:11);

(3) discern truth from untruth, exposing non-Christian beliefs (1 John 4:1-6);

(4) speak truth in love, practicing persuasion over confrontation (Colossians 4:5-6);

(5) apply truth in life, synthesizing biblical principles with all things (Romans 15:4)

As consumed as I am for true Truth, I am also consumed by training students to find true Truth for themselves.  My concern as a Christian educator is to help students become competent in what I call “the 5 ‘I’ words”:

 (1) identification of erroneous powers, premises, and practices;

(2) interpretation of pagan belief from a Christian perspective;

(3) inductive study of Scripture as a basis for assessment;

(4) interaction with current issues and icons, and

(5) investment in the tools necessary for students to make the search for true Truth a lifelong practice.

Picture credits: Snappygoat.com and Wikipedia