A Very Orwellean Day
Newspeak comes to 2005:
An online thesaurus struck a listing Monday for the word “Arab” after Arab-American groups complained the entry listed derogatory synonyms.
The entry, which appeared on thesaurus.com, listed the word as a noun meaning “beggar,” and gave 16 pejorative synonyms including “homeless person” and “welfare bum.”
The president of the American Arab Forum noticed the synonyms, got offended, and within hours the offensive terms were wiped out as if they never existed. Indeed, a quick check shows that there are now absolutely no synonyms for Arab — or Jew for that matter.
There are, however, some rather unpleasant synonyms for redneck which offends me mightily. Perhaps I should complain!
“We’re simply going to take it out,” [the editor of the third edition of Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus] said on Monday. “The last thing you want with a thesaurus is to offend anyone.”
Ah yes, the last thing we want is for language to include any offensive terms. Wipe it clean! Next week: niggardly ceases to exist.
Winston Smith‘s taskmasters would be proud.
Newspeak comes to America
AlphaPatriot seems to be suffering from the effects of yet another outbreak of political correctness, over pejorative synonyms for the word ‘Arab’. The president of the American Arab Forum noticed the synonyms, got offended, and within hours the offens…