The Role of Language in Ideology

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this meeting, due to being lured away to the theater.  That itself was an exercise in language, being an adaptation of Goethe's Faust, although one cannot say with certainty how much ideology is present in it.  I can ponder the topic, I suppose, with the support of the writing by the Leader and the True Philosopher.

An ideology must be supported by language in order to spread.  Its terminology or jargon is the virus that infects new followers.  It achieves this by being attractive, appealing to the emotions of the listener.  Having their emotions set alight, people allow themselves to stop thinking critically about what they are hearing and begin to believe and follow blindly.  The words chosen play on already accepted values, like family or individual value, using glowing terms to instill a sense of self-worth in the potential group members.  Sometimes this is accompanied by a series of negative casting of "others" who cannot join the group for any number of reasons.  Ideologies generally present themselves as great solutions, if only everyone would buy into them, but at the same time set about creating or intensifying divisions in a society.  The language of the ideology feeds into the need for belonging, and also the habit we humans have of grouping ourselves in opposition to others.  It is not enough to simply belong to a group, our group has to be better than the others, and other people have to be in those inferior groups to make us look better by comparison.

An ideology might make use of glories of the past, invoking the names of battles, empires or emperors for its followers to identify with. They may be from the group's own, possibly mythical, past, or representatives of more powerful, greater, groups and civilizations.  The message in that language is that we have some inherent greatness in us, especially in the case of the ancestral figures, and all we have to do is accept and revive that reverence for ourselves (or really, for our leaders) and tangible greatness will follow.

Besides being emotionally impacting, the language of ideology should also be memorable and relatively simple, although the messages it sends might be complex and not readily decipherable.  Slogans in advertising, political campaigns, and posters to ring up support for military actions are clear examples of this, whether we want to admit the connections to ideology that exist in these media; "Just do it," "We can do it," and "Yes we can" are short, to the point and motivating, their contexts easily identifiable for Americans at least, but also just vague enough that removed from their contexts, they are less energizing, and may even be almost meaningless.  Campaign and fight songs boost the power of words with music.  A catchy tune can even block out distasteful words, if one does not pay attention.  The language of the King James Bible resonates with English speakers, even if the meaning is obscured by the manner of expression, or if the particular speaker is not a supporter of the ideology promoted by that book.

As human beings we have a constant battle within us, to belong on one hand, and to be ourselves on the other.  Ideologies fulfill the desire to belong by creating groups for us, and some even encourage individuality beyond what is socially useful.  But, it is language that allows us to express our needs and to explore the options, that calls us to particular ideas and repels us from others.  Without language, we are without ideas and therefore without ideology.