The Reith Lectures: Archive 1976-2012 - Rhetoric that Binds and Blinds

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In his third Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines the power of political and religious rhetoric.

Between God and Nation, and Sieg Heil, a complex set of social impulses and goals are reduced to mere sound. It is a potent tool that moves to vibrate a collective chord and displace reason. A willed hypnosis substitutes for individual will and the ecstasy of losing oneself in a sound-cloned crowd drives the most ordinary person to throw away all moral code and undertake hitherto unthinkable acts. Is the language of Political Correctness aiding and abetting its proliferation?

Published on Wednesday, 21st April 2004.

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