1. Heidegger’s conception of truth as uncovering through logos could be likened to saying what you see or “telling it how it is”, fundamentally conservative ways of existing. Uncovering through speech is a precondition of Aristotle’s truth, a correspondence theory.
3. The Nazis, being revolutionaries, were very fond of mutilating German with ugly jargon and euphemisms. It’s a condition they shared with the Soviets, which is why poets tended to get shot in Russia. Poets are truth conservers, as they are undertaking primordial uncovering.
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4. “Only in Russia poetry is respected - it gets people killed,” wrote Mandelstam. This is because poetry is primordial truth. Die Weiße Rose resistance group took its name from a 19th century poem. Those close to poetry are compelled to speak against totalitarianism.
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5. So, against Adorno, Heidegger is actually anti-jargon. His analysis of language probably influenced Arendt’s view of totalitarianism. And what about our contemporary world? We labour under jargon that conceals: “diversity”, “inclusion”, “undocumented migrants”...
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6. ...”collateral damage”, “humanitarian intervention”. These prevent us from seeing. In this respect, Trump is anti-totalitarian. His speech, though ugly, tends to reveal. By saying, “illegal immigrant” he states the situation as it is.
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7. This is not sufficient to make a political judgement about immigration. Perhaps the laws these people break are unjust. But it is a precondition of understanding and discussing those laws that we state things “as they are”, i.e. that migrants are breaking the law.
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