conuly: Dr. Horrible quote: All the birds are singing, you're gonna die : ) (birds)
[personal profile] conuly
Apparently, asking her if she wants cheese or butter is "fascist" and an Orwellian effort to control her language, and thence her thoughts.

Yes, of course. Making sure your order is correct is EXACTLY like Fascism! While we're on the subject of made-up lingo, let's look up fascism:

1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

Well, THAT's clearly not what she means (we can only hope), so let's try definition 2....

2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<early [...] w.>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/17/lynne-rosenthal-enraged-e_n_685067.html">Apparently, asking her if she wants cheese or butter is "fascist" and an Orwellian effort to control her language, and thence her thoughts.</a>

Yes, of course. Making sure your order is correct is EXACTLY like Fascism! While we're on the subject of made-up lingo, let's look up fascism:

1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

Well, THAT's clearly not what she means (we can only hope), so let's try definition 2....

2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>

Well, inasmuch as Starbucks rules the world, I guess insisting you be clear on whether you want butter, cream cheese, or nothing at all is "dictatorial", but aren't we crediting them with just a <i>little</i> more power than they actually have? They're Starbucks. They're not the government. I know there's a lot of 'em out there, but they don't take our tax money just yet.

<i>Rosenthal told DNAinfo that Starbucks' use of language was "Orwellian," a reference to George Orwell's depiction of government manipulation of language in the novel "1984."
Story continues below

"It's all about control," Rosenthal said. "They're trying to control the language and in that way create a different reality. Unless you obey that language, they lose control."</i>

OMG it's a goddamn coffee chain! It's not like one day you ask for a Tall coffee and the next day you've always been at war with Eastasia. Seriously, it's just not <i>that</i> big a deal. Go order your bagel somewhere else (possibly go get a real bagel) or don't, but let's not throw words like "fascist" and "Orwellian" around like they just don't mean anything anymore.

Date: 2010-08-18 12:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blackhanddpants.livejournal.com
Oh my word. What an idiot. My father has spent his entire life ordering a "small black coffee" in any number of restaurants, and then answering the question "Would you like cream and sugar with that?" with a slightly pained smile and a polite "No, thank you." My husband has spent his entire life ordering a "plain bacon cheeseburger" and then explaining, just to save everybody misunderstandings and trouble, that by "plain" he means that he wants ONLY bacon and cheese, nothing else, on his bacon cheeseburger. Nobody threw a hissy fit, and nobody accused anybody else of fascism, and everybody got what he wanted in the end.

People who throw fits in restaurants because they are asked to clarify their order to busy clerks who take 7,236 orders every day in a noisy environment, many of which vary only in the finest details, and who are liable to be asked to comp anything they don't get absolutely right, should not be allowed out without a guardian. You know, someone who can remind them to mind their manners.

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