What happens when words like love, sustainability, and fiscally conservative become meaningless? Corporations and governments are creating a world where words don’t mean anything. Words, even ones meaning the complete opposite, are becoming interchangeable.  Welcome to 1984. Let the amnesia begin.

The Beatles wrote a song called ‘All You Need Is Love’. With Blackberry running ads every commercial break or before any clip you view on the internet, you can easily substitute Love for Blackberry. What does love mean? Blackberry? The love the Beatles were talking about has all but been removed. It has been relegated to the scrap heap of history. Idealism is obviously dead. Clearly capitalism can co-opt anything. In time will anyone even remember what the Beatles meant?

Calgary-West MP Rob Anders recently said in a Calgary Herald article that, ‘‘I sense that Premier Stelmach understands that government spending is an issue”. Rob Anders is supporting the Wildrose Alliance party because they are bringing Conservatism ‘back to its roots’ - fiscal conservative roots that is. It is as if Anders has amnesia. Has Rob Anders taken a look at his own party’s spending? At an estimated $60 billion, Harper’s Conservatives have created the largest deficit in Canadian history. Undeterred, Anders marches blindly under the banner of fiscal conservativism.

Members on City Council also use the words fiscally conservative every chance they get. Yet the McIvors, Connellys, Joneses, Colley-Urquharts, and Chabots, who pride themselves on their fiscal conservatism, continually vote for motions that increase taxes. They vote to continue urban sprawl, to subsidize Race City Speedway, to build underground C-Trains out to the suburbs etc.

Fiscal conservatism a la 1984 means quite the opposite. Voters have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to support fiscally conservative politicians even if those self described fiscally conservative politicians are anything but. In reality fiscal conservatism has nothing to do with saving money. What fiscally conservatives really want is for democracy to step aside in order to let the market decide.

Sustainability is another word that doesn’t mean anything. Watching commercials you get the sense that all cars, soaps, dish detergents, packaged processed food, and oil companies are sustainable. Oil mega corporations like Total litter our streets with billboards telling us of their commitment to the environment. Justifiably Greenpeace aptly refigured Total’s ad to ‘Commitment To Destroy The Environment’ which is much more truthful.


Car companies like Ford tout the eco-ness of their vehicles. Sue Cischke, group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering said, “The foundation of Ford’s sustainability strategy is based on delivering affordable fuel economy for millions”. The reality is that Ford's bread and butter is the F-Series truck, a gas guzzler. Ford makes it out as if their vehicles not only do not pollute, do not help turn half of our city into roads, and do not consume an enormous amount of energy and resources to create these vehicles in the first place. It is as if by buying a car you are saving the environment.

What does sustainability mean? Most of the time the complete opposite. If Orwell was alive today he would probably come up with a few more slogans for today's world:

Truth is Lie

Love is Consumption

Sustainability is Destruction

The result of words becoming meaningless is confusion. Confusion leads to apathy. Apathy leads to mindless voting and consumption. It allows you to feel good doing bad. Why have guns pointed at people’s heads when you can just control their heads? The result is man made climate change, the destruction of our environment, record debt, and empty politics and democracy that just enriches the few. The whole point of this charade is to make communication meaningless to ensure nothing changes.

The question is when will we take back our words, our minds, our democracy, and our earth?