Dakota Beacon

Does culture influence the language? Or does language influence the culture? One could make the case that, barring ulterior motives by certain actors in society, the relationship between culture and language would be symbiotic, that is, one influences the other and visa versa. But some actors use language as a device to skew cultural outcomes.

Observers note the tension that polarizes the progressive left and conservative right both who show very little patience for compromise. Two of those observers include Mark Steyn and Michael Knowles, both of whom have written powerfully on the topic.

As a writer, Mark Steyn’s best-known books are America Alone and After America. He has also guest hosted The Rush Limbaugh Show and Tucker Carlson Tonight. He currently has his own show on his own website.

Steyn’s tone is often provocative, but his underlying concern is that language and culture are the scaffolding of civilization. If they erode, so does everything built upon them.

About language in relation to immigration in particular, his tone may be alarmist, but his central thesis is clear: without assimilation of migrant populations, and that includes knowing the language, immigration becomes a cultural gamble. Western civilization may lose the very values that made it attractive to immigrants in the first place.

He’s especially critical of the language of political correctness (PC) and multicultural policies that discourage honest discussion about cultural issues. He believes that Western societies often prioritize tolerance over truth, which prevents them from addressing the real challenges of assimilation and language.

Michael Knowles is the host of The Daily Wire’s The Michael Knowles Show and PragerU’s The Book Club. He is also author of the bestselling book Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds in which he offers an explicit and robust critique of language manipulation. In his book, Knowles argues that PC was intended as a deliberate strategy to reshape our culture by controlling language. Redefining words and suppressing dissent enables PC to manipulate culture and reality itself.

PC has distorted our use of language resulting in a change in our culture and how we view the world. This change in language and meaning did not come about through natural linguistic development. It has been a cultural assault planned and carried out by liberal academic and bureaucratic extremists who created the new words, their meaning, and how we should react. Newly acceptable terms have been repeated verbatim by almost all journalists. Watching the repetition of the identical words by so-called journalists has been very revealing. Decades of incompetence on all sides has allowed PC to invert our culture.

Knowles elaborates on key points of speech showing how for decades our culture has been slowly numbing itself with poisonous tendencies.

-- To be sure, language is power. Words construct reality through euphemisms and redefinitions to shift public perception.

-- Altered language eased the capture of universities, media, and corporations thereby becoming capable of enforcing PC norms and punishing dissent with social or professional consequences.

-- Concepts like “tolerance” and “equality” are redefined to serve ideological ends.

-- Finally, Knowles critiques conservatives for defending “free speech” in abstract terms. He argues that without defending traditional standards, conservatives aid the PC agenda without thinking. He has done an excellent job explaining how conservatives inadvertently surrendered the cultural battle to the Marxist left by acquiescing to their fraudulent linguistic manipulations.

The book highlights the influence that speech has on culture as well as the influence culture has on speech. Knowles book goes into detail about the potentially alarming directions these ideas could go. He does give some potential solutions as to how we can fight for a culture that we once had and was worth preserving. His book offers a glossary of jargon, a list of works cited, an ample section of notes, and a helpful index.

Whereas Steyn offers a broad overview of the effects of degraded language on culture, Knowles digs into the nitty-gritty. Even more hard-hitting than the eloquent Mr. Steyn, Knowles drives home some key points. America Alone and Speechless are two excellent reads for those seeking a broader understanding of cultural change through language modification.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).