Many readers are probably aware of the latest advice to Democrats from their think tank “experts” to help them try to salvage their sinking ship called the Democrat Party. The advice was for the Dems to watch their words carefully as they engage with non-Dems.
More on that in a moment. First, some background to establish my points of contrast.
Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I was invited to teach at a Bible Youth Camp in Colorado. The young people were in their mid-teens to early 20s. My son, David, was among the campers. As I recall, I delivered two messages to the young Christians in attendance.
One was called “The Image vs. the Word.” I emphasized how from my degree in broadcast journalism and continuing studies on all things related to it ever since graduation from Ohio State, that there are things everyone should realize in regard to communication skills.
One is a primary fact in the art and science of communication; namely, that the visual always dominates or overrides the audio.
This fact opens up all kinds of means and methods for mind control (witchcraft) and we Christians need to be aware of it (“the wiles of the devil”) in order to counteract it. Our focus should be on the Word (of God), spoken and/or written. I include “written” because when we read it, we “hear” the words in our minds. But I digress…
The other teaching I brought to the young people was entitled, “Wordsmiths or Wordslobs?” This theme was to encourage them to strive for excellence in their written and spoken communication skills. This is a lifelong task which need not be a drudgery. Instead, it can be a rewarding delight.
Presently in my septuagenarian decade, I still delight in learning new words. And I deliberately try to incorporate them in my writing. The downside is that all the “wordslobbery” which pervades the web can become annoying, if you let it.
One of the cardinal rules in public speaking or writing is to know your audience. With a national CD Ministry and a nearly 5 days a week blog, I reach a very diverse audience in terms of our readers’ education levels. Readers range from those with a high school diploma or less, to Ph. D. / M.D. / D. C. / J. D. / etc.
However, I do not assume that the higher the education level, the smarter they are. Life experience teaches that there are some with lots of initials after their name who don’t know how to tie their shoe or write a cogent paragraph.
In contrast, there are some who never went to college who are as smart as anyone when it comes to common sense. Furthermore, now with the ubiquity (like that word? Look it up.) of the internet, anyone with any level of education can become very well informed on any topic they have an interest in pursuing.
Moreover, these days, I am not too concerned about coming across as an elitist (as the Dems are being told they are doing), or being perceived as “showing off” by incorporating a “big” word now and again. My goodness, it is now the simplest thing in the world to simply do a web search when you come across a new word.
So as I taught the young people in Colorado in ca. 1989 (c. or ca. is the abbreviation for circa, a Latin word which means about; there, you don’t have to look that one up), strive for excellence in your language.
When you see a word you don’t know, take a moment to look it up. It is so much quicker and easier now than when we had to go to the shelf, grab a dictionary, and then spend a good five minutes finding and learning the new word.
Now back to the Dem’s dilemma. Recent reputable studies have shown that in the past four years, the Democrat Party has lost about 2.1 million registered voters. Meanwhile, the Republicans have gained about 2.4 million.
The Dems are panicking. So what can they do? Well, we common sense folks might suggest they be “authentic.” But that’s like telling a jackass to quit braying. They cannot stop themselves. The fact is that it doesn’t matter how hard they try to change their vocabulary and try to speak “our” (i.e., normal) language, they will fail.
Why? They are unable to do so because as long as they still cling to their communist-socialist-collectivist policies and world views, their words will always betray them. The words of our Savior come to mind. And it sounds like our Lord had these folks in mind as he addressed the race of reptiles.
Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Or to put it terms of us “deplorables:” You can’t put lipstick on a pig and try to persuade people it’s swan.
This story of the floundering Dems’ attempt to right their language ship is all over the web, but the one we are quoting is from an article entitled:
Panic: Democrat Strategists Publish a List of 45 Woke Words for Members to Avoid Using In a Desperate Effort to Stop Trump and MAGA
You will get a chuckle and a grin from many of them.
QUOTE: [The Democrat think tank called] Third Way included a list of 45 words Democrats should avoid to avoid repelling voters. These include terms such as patriarchy, triggering, safe space, body-shaming, Latinx, and cisgender…
Third Way divided the list into six categories: Therapy-Speak, Seminar Room Language, Organizer Jargon, Gender/Orientation Correctness, The Shifting Language of Racial Constructs, and Explaining Away Crime.
Here is the full list of words and categories:
Therapy-Speak
1. Privilege
2. Violence (as in “environmental violence”)
3. Dialoguing
4. Othering
5. Triggering
6. Microaggression/assault/invalidation
7. Progressive stack
8. Centering
9. Safe space
10. Holding space
11. Body shaming
Seminar Room Language
12. Subverting norms
13. Systems of oppression
14. Critical theory
15. Cultural appropriation
16. Postmodernism
17. Overton Window
18. Heuristic
19. Existential threat to [climate, the planet, democracy, the economy]
Organizer Jargon
20. Radical transparency
21. Small ‘d’ democracy
22. Barriers to participation
23. Stakeholders
24. The unhoused
25. Food insecurity
26. Housing insecurity
27. Person who immigrated
Gender/Orientation Correctness
28. Birthing person
29. Inseminated person
30. Pregnant people
31. Chest feeding
32. Cisgender
33. Deadnaming
34. Heteronormative
35. Patriarchy
36. LGBTQIA+
The Shifting Language of Racial Constructs
37. Latinx
38. BIPOC
39. Allyship
40. Intersectionality
41. Minoritized communities
Explaining Away Crime
42. Justice-involved
43. Carceration
44. Incarcerated people
45. Involuntary confinement
END QUOTE
Before we close what to me has been an amusing task—observing how utterly ludicrous these poor souls are, being afflicted with TDS and all—I would have to admit that we Constitutionalists/conservatives/Republicans have one or two of our own “therapy speak” words.
The difference is, of course, that we are using the word correctly, honestly, authentically. It is not an attempt to prove mental superiority but merely to point out the tactics of the Left.
The word is “projection,” a term from the field of psychology. It’s what they do every day; just watch the non-fake news for examples. We have noticed it for many decades. The Leftists always project onto their opponents exactly what they have done or are doing.
Examples are myriad, but just to name one currently in the news. They tried to ruin DJT by claiming he committed mortgage fraud by overvaluing his Mar-a-Lago estate. As everyone now knows, NY District Attorney Letitia James is now shown to have done exactly that, while DJT has been shown wholly innocent of the made-up accusation.
The full article at The Gateway Pundit is here.
~END~
