By DONALD DeMARCO
Gibberish is not restricted to merely speaking unintelligibly. It can be fine-honed into the art of saying something that seems to make sense, but makes no sense whatsoever.
The success of gibberish depends on how the mere sound of words can have a mesmerizing effect on the listener, even though they do not pass from the ear to the brain. It is the hypnotic sound of the words, not their meaning, which is the final test of artful gibberish.
Gertrude Stein was a pioneer in the art of gibberish. In her book, Tender Buttons, a work that is more discussed than read, she offers innumerable examples of her curious craft. One citation is sufficient to make the point:
“The care with which the rain is wrong and the green is wrong and the white is wrong, the care with which there is a chair and plenty of breathing. The care with which there is incredible justice and likeness, all this makes a magnificent asparagus, and also a fountain.”
As the Bard might say, “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Marshall McLuhan, the eminent student of how the media affect people without informing them, found a parallel between Stein’s gibberish and Madison Avenue’s commercials.
Old cigarette ads provide ample illustrations of how statements can persuade consumers without informing them. An L&M cigarette commercial was able to convince many smokers that if they chose this brand, they would “Live Modern.”
At the same time, another brand claimed that “only Chesterfield is made the modern way — with Accu-Ray.” Not only that, a Chesterfield cigarette “packs more pleasure because it’s more perfectly packed.”
Lucky Strike did not mean what the phrase denoted, but meant “fine tobacco.” Moreover, they were “so round, so firm, so fully packed — so free and easy on the draw.”
Nonetheless, all these claims were summarily dismissed by another popular brand: “Have real cigarette — have a Camel.”
Lewis Carroll wrote gibberish, not so much for monetary gain, but for the pleasure that meaningless words provided. In Through the Looking Glass he offers a delectable example of gibberish in the opening stanza of “Jabberwocky”: “Twas brilling, and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:/ All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgabe.”
Carroll’s intention, however, was not to deceive, but to delight. It is an entirely different matter, however, when politicians utilize gibberish in order to mesmerize their audience.
Jennifer Rubin, in a Washington Post article entitled, “Hillary Clinton Spews Gibberish, Again” (October, 9, 2014), finds that the Democratic candidate for president “once more is saying nothing and using many words to say it, as if she is pulling buzz words and talking points from the recesses of her memory.”
To illustrate her point, she offers Clinton’s comment on the Obama medical device tax:
“On the tax itself, again I think we have to look to see what are the pluses and the minuses, that are embodied in a decision about either to remove or alter or continue this particular piece of the Affordable Care Act and I’ve [sic] in preparation for coming here, I’ve obviously looked at the arguments on both sides for more information and I think we’ll gather more information and that will perhaps give us a better path forward.”
According to journalist Michael Kelly, many of Hillary’s speeches “share the same traits: vaulting ambition, didactic moralizing, intellectual incoherence, and the adolescent assumption that the past does not exist and the present needs only your guiding hand to create a glorious future” (“Saint Hillary,” New York Times Magazine, May 23, 1993, pp. 22, 24).
Seth Mandel, writing for Commentary (April 14, 2015) explains that Hillary Clinton achieves her fine art of gibberish “by diluting the English language until there are no more words, just empty sounds, hand gestures, and facial expressions” (“Clintonian Gibberish: The New Language of American Politics”).
When President Obama refers to the legalization of same-sex marriage as the right to marry the person you love, his words seem to be appealing. After all, love and marriage go together “like a horse and carriage.”
If the listener is swept away by the sweet conjunction of love and marriage, he may forget what Obama’s statement excludes, namely, the consent of the other, marital status, age, absence of blood relationship, willingness to carry out the responsibilities that are intrinsic to marriage.
Being charmed by the sound of words, but failing to grasp their meaning, is the ideal subject for the master of gibberish.
Similarly, when Bernie Sanders boasts that he wants to remove all restrictions from abortion, his assertions may appear to be welcoming a courageous expansion of freedom. But to the thinking person, there are many factors that should restrict freedom.
Even those who advocate abortion want some restrictions to be preserved, such as requiring the consent of the woman, ensuring that the abortionist is qualified and capable, and that health considerations are respected. No restrictions at all makes the woman vulnerable, allows the doctor to be irresponsible, and opens the way to sheer mayhem.
Listening to a speaker must be more than an aesthetic experience. The speaker’s voice and his words may be melodious and captivating, but they should not divert the listener from their meaning.
The fine art of gibberish, is also the demagogue’s instrument of deception.
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(Dr. Donald DeMarco is a senior fellow of Human Life International. He is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College in Cromwell, Conn., and a regular columnist for St. Austin Review.
(His latest works, How to Remain Sane in a World That Is Going Mad; Ten Major Moral Mistakes and How They Are Destroying Society; and How to Flourish in a Fallen World are available through Amazon.com. Some of his recent writings may be found at Human Life International’s Truth and Charity Forum. He is the 2015 Catholic Civil Rights League recipient of the prestigious Exner Award.)
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