apocalpyse and subversion of language

Nice post from Orwellwasright below and I love the Hegel quote.

Background frst:

We apparently have the word “apocalypse“ all wrong. In its root meaning, it’s not about destruction or fortune telling; It’s about revealing; It’s what James Joyce calls an epiphany-the moment you realize your so-called love for the young lady, all your professions, all your dreams, and all your efforts to get her to notice you were the exercise of an unkind and obssesive vanity…The real world, within which you’ve lived and moved and had your being, has unveiled itself. It’s starting to come to you. You aren’t who you made yourself out to be. An apocalypse
has occurred, or a revelation, if you prefer…Apocalyptic maximizes the reality of human suffering and folly before daring a word of hope. The hope has nowhere else to happen but the valley of the shadow of death. Is it any surprise that we often won’t know it when we see it?

-David Dark, “Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons and Other Pop Culture Icons”, p.10

See also Ellul: every moment of life= apocalyptic


Orwellwasright:

Language is constantly subverted. From the slang of the inner city where bad is good and a dirty tune is sick (that’s a good thing, apparently), to the manipulative propaganda rhetoric of “humanitarian bombings” and “just wars”  of the rich and powerful, words are constantly subjected to Orwellian distortions ..
...While the manipulation of words in political discourse is par for the course, few words have had their true meaning so effectively subverted than the word “Apocalypse”.

When most people hear the word “Apocalypse” they think of carnage and destruction ravaging the planet – Hell, unleashed on earth. But the Greeks – who created the word – had something different to say. To them, the apocalypse was understood to be a moment of “uncovering”; a revelation of knowledge previously hidden.....
Whether you believe the End Time or Christ’s second coming is upon us, or mankind is about to be transformed by a consciousness shift brought about by planetary changes triggered by a galactic alignment, or that all of the above is sheer nonsense borne of superstitious minds, it’s difficult to escape the feeling that world events are building to a head. A wider conflagration in the Middle East would certainly lead the religious extremists who take the fire and brimstone interpretation of the word apocalypse to feel vindicated.
On the other hand, should a mass movement built upon the foundation of revelations of previously hidden truths successfully overcome the depredations of the ruling elite, perhaps then the true meaning of the word “apocalypse” intended by the Greeks will be restored to the current lexicon.
To the philosopher Hegel, “world history is thus the unfolding of Spirit in time, as nature is the unfolding of the Idea in space.” As we watch history unfold before our eyes, by our actions we help to define it – the choice between destruction or illumination ultimately lies with us  link