“Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.”
—President Donald J. Trump, Executive Order, January 20, 2025
“Since you don’t know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism?”
—George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
Effectively communicating political ideas in plain language is an art, chiefly practiced by political consultants and ad agencies hired by politicians to frame their messages. We amateurs find it hard enough to really say what we mean without having to worry over what we can’t say. But that’s what we face thanks to the negation of woke underway at the Federal Government, intended to impoverish political speech about race, class, and gender.
Below is a list of nearly 300 words a NY Times investigation last February found are verboten on various federal websites and communications, though not all departments ban the same words. “The analysis,” they sad, “involved searching for changes on more than 5,000 total pages, but it did not capture the entire universe of the federal government’s web presence.”
| accessible activism activists advocacy advocate advocates affirming care all-inclusive allyship anti-racism antiracist assigned at birth assigned female at birth assigned male at birth at risk barrier barriers belong bias biased biased toward biases biases towards biologically female biologically male BIPOC Black breastfeed + people breastfeed + person chestfeed + people chestfeed + person clean energy climate crisis climate science commercial sex worker community diversity community equity confirmation bias cultural competence cultural differences cultural heritage cultural sensitivity culturally appropriate culturally responsive DEI DEIA DEIAB DEIJ disabilities disability |
discriminated discrimination discriminatory disparity diverse diverse backgrounds diverse communities diverse community diverse group diverse groups diversified diversify diversifying diversity enhance the diversity enhancing diversity environmental quality equal opportunity equality equitable equitableness equity ethnicity excluded exclusion expression female females feminism fostering inclusivity GBV gender gender based gender based violence gender diversity gender identity gender ideology gender-affirming care genders Gulf of Mexico hate speech health disparity health equity hispanic minority historically identity immigrants implicit bias implicit biases inclusion |
inclusive inclusive leadership inclusiveness inclusivity increase diversity increase the diversity indigenous community inequalities inequality inequitable inequities inequity injustice institutional intersectional intersectionality key groups key people key populations Latinx LGBT LGBTQ marginalize marginalized men who have sex with men mental health minorities minority most risk MSM multicultural Mx Native American non-binary nonbinary oppression oppressive orientation people + uterus people-centered care person-centered person-centered care polarization political pollution pregnant people pregnant person pregnant persons prejudice |
privilege privileges promote diversity promoting diversity pronoun pronouns prostitute race race and ethnicity racial racial diversity racial identity racial inequality racial justice racially racism segregation sense of belonging sex sexual preferences sexuality social justice sociocultural socioeconomic status stereotype stereotypes systemic systemically they/them trans transgender transsexual trauma traumatic tribal unconscious bias underappreciated underprivileged underrepresentation underrepresented underserved undervalued victim victims vulnerable populations women women and underrepresented |
While most words seem connected to sex, gender, diversity, equity, and inclusion, a small number of them, such as barrier(s), confirmation bias, expression, historically, identify, mental health, political, prejudice, race, and undeserved are commonly used in many contexts. Many of the former were quickly blacklisted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other HHS divisions in scientific communications and grant applications.
So the government can’t say women but it can say men. It can say gay, lesbian, and bisexual but not transsexual, transgender, LGBT, or even gender. No Blacks, native Americans or other minorities need apply. No implicit biases here, folks, just explicit ones.
Last time I wrote about how Orwellian Trump’s world view is. Banning words or replacing them with euphemisms is just as Orwellian (though there were plenty he wanted to ban). But Washington’s verbal abuse doesn’t stop there; an obfuscating cloud surrounds every utterance the Executive Branch makes. They never say what they really mean or really want.
In truth, saying what you mean and want is damn hard, whoever you are. George Orwell knew this, and had this advice to give in Politics and the English Language:
I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but merely language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought. Stuart Chase and others have come near to claiming that all abstract words are meaningless, and have used this as a pretext for advocating a kind of political quietism. Since you don’t know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism? One need not swallow such absurdities as this, but one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase – some jackboot, Achilles’ heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse – into the dustbin where it belongs.
So, rather than calling Trump and his lieutenants fascists, be more creative and more concrete. Call him a child molester, a delusional senescent, a con man, a deluded shmoo, or describe whatever image fits your rubric and rhetoric. Just don’t use AI. Orwell would have hated AI.
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