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AP reconfigures language, tries to control thinking — again
In a Friday email to subscribers listing updated entries for its style manual, the Associated Press is urging journalists to avoid making references in news stories that suggest there are only two sexes in the human race. Ken Shepherd reporting for the Washington Times caught this latest attempt to neutralize not only our identities and our language, but also dilute our ability to reason.
Gender is the latest gambit.
The Stylebook issued further guidance for use of pronouns under an entry named “they, them, their.” Those third-person plural pronouns are preferred by some transgender or gender fluid individuals who say they are not comfortable with traditional male or female personal pronouns, Shepherd notes.
“Gender fluid”?
At this point the Stylebook has drawn the line on the use of exotic pronouns: “We do not use other gender-neutral pronouns such as xe or ze.”
Yet.
In April 2013 the news agency asserted that “change is a part of AP Style because the English language is constantly evolving and enriched by new words, phrases and uses.” That announcement dealt with the terminology describing those who have illegally invaded our country, in order to “use the most precise and accurate words so that the meaning is clear to any reader anywhere.” In fact, by skewing words and their definitions, AP did exactly the opposite of their pretentious claim. Seeing Red AZ likened Associated Press’ leftward lurching language machinations to George Orwell’s “1984” Newspeak, the language used by Winston Smith as he toiled at his job rewriting history.
Seeing Red AZ reported in Dec. 2010 that the Diversity Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists called on news reporters nationwide to stop using the term “illegal immigrant” in their news coverage.
The Washington Times editorially addressed this attempt at language control by correctly stating altering words “doesn’t change facts.” The Times contended the term “illegal alien” is “highly specific and accurately describes the problem, unlike “undocumented immigrant,” which purposefully removes a stigma that should rightly remain.”
Kudos to the Washington Times, a lone rational voice in the reporting wilderness, for placing truth above political correctness.
Source: https://seeingredaz.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/ap-reconfigures-language-tries-to-control-thinking-again/
