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In my continuing frustration that “woke” language is unclear, makes understanding each other harder, and thus actual communication less likely, with errors and misunderstandings more likely, today’s entry is a story from WCVB, an ABC news station in Boston, Massachusetts.
The story being reported by WCVB is about the man who pretended to be a woman and shot up a high school hockey game in Pawtucket, R.I. Specifically, the story is about the bystander who first tackled the shooter. The bystander got his finger caught in the pistol’s slide, preventing the shooter from continuing to use that gun.
The story reported that, at that point, two other men also jumped onto the shooter. So three men on the shooter.
But the story then says,
Black [the first tackler] said the shooter took the second gun out of a pocket and turned it on themselves.
Using “themselves” (a plural word) just after referencing multiple people jumping the shooter creates for the reader (or hearer) the impression that the shooter turned the gun on the multiple people who jumped him. But after sitting in confusion for several seconds, I realized this may not be what they meant.
I knew from other reports about the event that the shooter turned the gun on himself and killed himself. Apparently the news station intended that the plural word “themselves” means the individual (singular) shooter. The news station’s use of the plural “themselves” to refer to a singular person created confusion, detracted from understanding, and interfered with real communication.
To properly understand the facts reported by this ABC station, I needed information from other sources. That is not communication. That is not aiding understanding.
Discussion (30)
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While I don't believe that people can actually transition, I find the terms Trans Man and Trans Woman to be confusing. When they say Trans Man, do they mean the starting point or the ending point? Personally, I find the starting point to be more accurate than the ending point -- because they actually still are the starting point, no matter how badly they want to be the ending point or how much they look or dress like the ending point.
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Just substitute “pretend” for “trans” and you’ll always be right.
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“For me to properly understand the report from the ABC news station I had to know information from other sources. That is not actual communication. That is not aiding understanding.”
That’s because there is nothing woke or sleepy about this language. It’s deliberately deceptive and obfuscating for the purpose of growing a world view. The writers don’t want you to understand anything about men (or women) mutilating their bodies for sexual gratification or as a result of mental illness.
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It's insidious and it's deliberate. Never hesitate to object.
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My favorite socialist George Orwell warned us back in 1946 with his "Politics and the English Language". Consider, particularly, the paragraph that starts with the following sentence, or just consider the sentence on its own applied to the current context.
The essay is copyrighted by the Orwell Estate or I would add further excerpts. It is Orwell's intolerance for language misuse and mediocrity, and his assertions on how such misuse is intentional.
I used to assign this as reading for 11th and 12th graders for a few reasons: so they could cut through clutter in their critical analyses; because it also functions as a guide for writing well; and so they wouldn't try to insert meaningless fluff into their essays.
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