The words covered in this article are obloquy, calumny, calumniation, calumnious and calumniate, detraction, denunciation and denounce, and partisan. Previously done words that will reoccur today are vilification, conformity and nonconformity, iconoclast, idolize, veneration, dichotomy, and perceive.
In Day 15, I shared with you the Think Different poem, which mentioned the possibility of nonconformists being vilified.
The relevant excerpt is reproduced below. Notice that vilification and glorification are set up as opposites in this poem.
Here’s to the crazy ones. . .You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
Also, in the further usage examples shared at the end of the Day 15 article, there was a quote about how the teachers who did not obediently parrot the politically correct commentary on class, race and gender-based issues were given a hard time for this nonconformity and were shamed with descriptors such as racist and sexist. The quote is repeated below:
“It became almost impossible to question the [politically correct viewpoint] without risking vilification, classroom disruption, loss of the confidence and respect necessary for teaching, and the hostility of colleagues. Racist and sexist were, and are, very ugly labels . . . which, once attached, are almost impossible to cast off.”
The Closing of the American Mind, by Alan Bloom
Such vilification, name-calling and disrespect has always been the fate of those who dare to go against the beliefs or religion of the majority.
Below is an excerpt from an essay written in 1896 by Charles W. Eliot, who was the President of Harvard University for 40 years (1869-1909). These words were written in the era of the telegram but hold equally well in our world of social media.
Read the excerpt first and then we will discuss the GRE words in it:
“Through the telegram, cheap postage, and the daily newspaper, the forces of hasty public opinion can now be concentrated and expressed with a rapidity and intensity unknown to preceding generations. In consequence, the independent thinker or actor, or the public servant, when his thoughts or acts run counter to prevailing popular or party opinions, encounters sudden and intense obloquy, which, to many temperaments, is very formidable. That habit of submitting to the opinion of the majority which democracy fosters renders the storm of detraction and calumny all the more difficult to endure – makes it, indeed, so intolerable to many citizens, that they will conceal or modify their opinions rather than endure it.
Yet the very breath of life for a democracy is free discussion, and the taking account, of all opinions honestly held and reasonably expressed . . . [the] habit of partisan ridicule and denunciation in the daily reading-matter of millions of people calls for a new kind of courage and toughness in public men, and calls for it, not in brief moments of excitement only, but steadily, year in and year out. Clearly, there is no need of bringing on wars in order to breed heroes. Civilized life affords plenty of opportunities for heroes, and for a better kind than war or any other savagery has ever produced.”
Charles W. Eliot, Five American Contributions to Civilization
Like Steve Jobs in Day 14, Dr. Eliot too points out the heroism needed to go against the popular opinion in a culture that values conformity and vilifies nonconformity.
Let’s now discuss the words.
Obloquy
Obloquy is a noun and means harsh and very insulting language used publicly by many people against one person. The image you may conjure in your mind for this word is that of a big group of people all vigorously pointing their fingers at one individual and shouting, “Shame on you!”
The word obloquy may also be used for the state of disgrace and ill repute resulting from public condemnation of a person.
Christian priests and clergymen were advised during their training to stay away from things of bad repute, to avoid all suspicious actions and all appearances of evil, so that no occasion of obloquy may arise. They were not only supposed to never get drunk and riot but were also forbidden to so much as eat or appear in a public inn or tavern. Modern day judges try similarly to maintain a clean image so that when they hear a case, no one can accuse them of partiality or corruption.
Calumny
The noun calumny means a false statement made with the ill-intention of defaming someone. The noun calumniation also means the same. The verb form of both these words is calumniate which means to make a false statement with the ill-intention of defaming someone.
What is the difference between obloquy and calumny?
- The obloquy that is meted out to a person may be:
- unfair and undeserved, if he is actually innocent but the society mistakenly thinks that he did wrong, or
- fair and deserved as per the prevailing social norms, if he actually did do the wrong that the society is criticizing him for.
- However, calumny heaped on a person is, by definition, unfair, for calumnious statements are always false.
“Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape
calumny.”
William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act III, Scene 1 (Hamlet addressing Ophelia)
Detraction
The noun detraction means:
- a statement that belittles or defames a person, or
- the act of belittling or defaming a person.
The people who try to belittle you are called your detractors. So, the word detractor could serve in many contexts as the opposite of ‘supporters.’ For example, recall the controversy around iconoclasm in Christian history that you learnt about last week. In that context,
- ‘icon venerators’ == supporters of icon veneration.
- Iconoclasts == detractors of icon veneration.
Detractions – the statements that your detractors utter against you – may be false or true, whereas calumnies are always false.
- An example of a false detraction
- In the novel Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte, the titular character is employed as a children’s governess in the wealthy Bloomfield family. Agnes’ employer is Mr. Bloomfield, whose mother is an insincere and unkind old lady who often complains to him that Agnes neglects the children, and as even his wife does not look after them well enough, he must attend to them himself, or they would all go to ruin. Believing such detractions and calumniations, Mr. Bloomfield thinks of Agnes as incompetent and soon fires her.
- An example of a true detraction
- The Biblical story called The Pericope Adulterae is about a woman who was caught in the act of adultery and was brought by a self-righteous crowd before Jesus. They told Jesus that the local law prescribed stoning for sinners like her and asked what they should do with her. Jesus replied, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” The accusers realized that none of them was without sin and quietly left; Jesus politely kept his eyes on the ground all the while to allow them to leave with dignity. When only the condemned woman and Jesus remained, he asked her if anybody did condemn her in the end. She answered no. Jesus said that he too did not condemn her and told her to go and sin no more.
- In this story, the accusation that the woman’s detractors had made her was true. Jesus did not approve of the woman’s sin – he did tell her to give it up – but his conduct was opposite to those who look for and denounce the sin of others while being full of sin themselves.
Denunciation
To denounce someone is to criticize publicly or very strongly as being wrong or disgraceful. The act of criticizing in this manner is called denunciation.
What can be the opposites of denunciation? Depending on the context:
- A private expression of disapproval
- For example, if you strongly dislike something your younger brother is doing at a party in your home, you may pull him aside and have a one-to-one conversation with him in your room instead of denouncing him before all the guests.
- Mild disagreement
- The response of Jesus to the adulteress in the biblical story fits this category. He conveyed his disapproval of her action but in a mild manner that contrasted starkly with her fierce denunciation by the crowd who rudely dragged her to Jesus, shouted and pointed fingers at her and were eager to do physical violence to her.
- Approval
- If you do not denounce X, you approve of X. Or at least your friends may throw this accusation at your face if you do not join them in booing down a wrongdoer. People like to impose overly-simple dichotomous judgments on other people – you are either with us or against us; you are either white or black; you either like X or dislike X. To avoid the harsh judgment of your friends, you may quietly fall in line with them; many do.
- Praise
- The contrast between praise and denunciation is parallel to the contrast between glorification and vilification mentioned at the beginning of this article and to the contrast in the phrase ‘bouquets and brickbats’.
- The following quotes exemplify this contrast:
- “The person to whom denunciation and praise are the same, who is . . . content with anything . . . is dear to Me.” Lord Krishna in The Bhagvad Gita
- “It doesn’t cost much to hate, but it costs you everything to love. . . It doesn’t cost much to blame, but it costs you everything to praise. It doesn’t cost much to denounce, but it costs you everything to applaud.” Matshona Dhliwayo
- “A man is to be judged by the judgements he pronounces. . . It is his own moral character and standards that he reveals, when he blames or praises. . . If he denounces a great work of art and praises trash—it is the nature of his own soul that he confesses.” Ayn Rand
Partisan
Partisan can be a noun or an adjective. As a noun, it means a passionate supporter of a person, party, or cause. As an adjective, it means related to or characteristic of partisans.
The simpler alternatives to the adjective partisan would be ‘biased’, ‘partial’, ‘one-sided’ or ‘prejudiced,’
Recall the context in which you encountered the word partisan earlier in this article. Dr. Eliot, the president of Harvard, had written:
“[the] habit of partisan ridicule and denunciation in the daily reading-matter of millions of people calls for a new kind of courage and toughness in public men.”
What does this mean? He is saying that the newspapers and magazines that common people read daily are partisans – they blindly support one ideology to such an extent that they not only oppose but even ridicule people holding other points of view.
That is it for today. Here are further usage examples of the words you’ve learnt:
- Many travelers of the world who admire other cities pour obloquy on their own.
- Rape tends to be under-reported in conservative societies because they often blame the victim herself – why was she at that place? why was she wearing such clothes? etc. – and perceive her as having fallen from virtue. It is the rape victim and not the rapist who suffers obloquy and, in some cases, even social boycott. (We will talk more about this in Day 17.)
- Homosexuality has been punished in many cultures with legal penalties and social obloquy. For example, till 1967, it was illegal in the United Kingdom. Due to this, many homosexuals preferred to hide their sexuality and marry women rather than risk arrest and public obloquy.
- The crown prince sued the tabloid for publishing a calumny about his alleged extra-marital affair.
- Some people have the habit to calumniate the absent.
- There was a lot of hooting and sloganeering from both the supporters and the detractors of the jailed ex-minister as he entered the court premises in handcuffs for a hearing of the corruption case that the new government had registered against him.
- Montaigne wrote an essay denouncing judicial torture.
- Tolstoy believed that the people who choose their opinions like their clothes according to the fashion, appear, for that very reason, to be the warmest partisans.
- The state legislature ruled that school libraries could not have partisan political pamphlets or books.
See you in Day 17!