Leftist language lies By Eileen Kilgore
For those on the Left, words aren’t simply a way to communicate, they’re a means to an end. The liberal agenda is to use language to manipulate and obfuscate, and they are very good at it. The result? Nothing is concrete. Even “truth” is relative. It no longer points to facts but opinion.
Leftists dislike black and white. It’s all about gray. They call conservatives and Christians intolerant, saying their moral beliefs aren’t “inclusive.” Last month 26 House Democrats sent an angry letter to Speaker Mike Johnson about pastor Jack Hibbs’ Jan. 30th prayer to Congress. In the letter, Hibbs was called a “racist Christian nationalist” with “a long record of spewing hateful vitriol toward non-Christians, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community.”
Liberals are for tolerance except for those on the right, who aren’t allowed to speak. There is no such thing as “let’s agree to disagree.” Tell a liberal you don’t support gay marriage, the LGBT or abortion rights and their heads will explode. Why? Because to them there is one truth — theirs — and to prove it, they will even change language.
It has been going on for years: Illegal alien to illegal immigrant to undocumented worker to migrant. Gay pride to pride. Sexual preference to sexual orientation. Transexual to transgender. Liberal to progressive.
Leftists will also create negative labels for people with opposing views. How many times have we heard the words “misinformation” and “disinformation” since 2020? Know the difference? It doesn’t matter, because both are used to dismiss anything or anyone that challenges the leftist narrative.
It’s no coincidence that these words became prevalent amidst two liberal hot button issues: the COVID vaccine rollout and 2020 presidential election. New language was needed to dismiss questions about either.
Another popular one is “conspiracy theorist,” a term that dates to the 1960s. The Left is not above dusting off an old weapon.
The Left’s shiny new toy is “White Nationalist” or “Christian nationalist,” frequently used against Trump and the MAGA following. Both terms are iterations of “right-wing extremist,” “white supremacist” and “domestic terrorist.”
What does it mean? Google’s top result (Southern Poverty Law Center):
White nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of nonwhite persons. Their primary goal is to create a white ethnostate. Groups listed in a variety of other categories, including Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead and Christian Identity, could also be fairly described as white nationalist.
What is the origin of this and other prevalent words today? Why did “illegal immigrant” change to “migrant” and “gay pride” to “pride”? Why is “non-binary” common? Who decided a person declining a shot is an “antivaxxer”?
Researching this is difficult, considering that Google is the number one search engine, and most of the others also slant left. It’s like asking a Starbucks barista what she (or “they”) thinks.
I believe three factors fuel the language evolution: academia, woke lobbying groups and corporations and media. The latter carries the most weight because it disseminates information. Most reporters are leftists. Rush Limbaugh once described them as “Democrat operatives disguised as journalists.”
But conservative media are also influenced by liberal ideology. One culprit is the Associated Press Stylebook, a go-to grammar and format manual for journalists. First published in 1953, it was designed to create standards and reduce bias in reporting. The current version does the opposite by sanctioning woke language.
Here is one AP definition: “Gender is not synonymous with sex. Gender refers to a person’s social identity, while sex refers to biological characteristics.” In 2022, the AP added this guidance: “Phrasing like pregnant people or people who seek an abortion seeks to include people who have those experiences, but do not identify as women, such as some transgender men and some nonbinary people.”
Academia has long been a liberal stronghold. It won’t change. Groups like the LGBT and Planned Parenthood will keep inventing and redefining words while pressuring government and corporations to embrace wokeism. I see only one viable option to change course: a groundswell of media who will reject these definitions instead of parroting them. Otherwise, the Left will continue to influence and erode culture by distorting language.
If you doubt me, consider B4U-ACT, a non-profit defined as therapists, researchers, and “MAPs” who “promote a science-informed understanding about people… with an attraction to children or adolescents.”
What are MAPs? Minor-Attracted Persons, AKA child molesters.
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