Commentary
It’s been a few days since I last shared with you my comments on items in the news. I shuffled through my stack of stuff, where I save material for future posts, however, a topic of special interest to me surfaced this week that deserves comment.
In my 68 years as a journalist/communicator, I have followed the writing guidelines of the AP Stylebook since it was first published in 1953. Originally designed to cover capitalization, abbreviations, punctuation, italics and the use of boldface, but over the years it has evolved into much more.
It’s a bit of culture mixed with politics. I hope you will find it informative
Last week, the Associated Press published the following Twitter @APStylebook: “We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.”
So, the AP has determined that the use of “the” adds a “dehumanizing” effect to common descriptors.
While I have, and will continue, to follow most of the AP recommendations on such things as capitalization, but as they note in the book’s foreward, they have long recognized that they cannot please everyone.
I have long ignored its rules for use of the hyphen. A black person born in the United States, in my mind, is not an African-American, no more than I am a Dutch-American. The AP rule states” “Use a hyphen to designate dual heritage: Italian-American, Mexican-American, but no hyphen for French Canadian or Latin American.”
In 2020, AP published a rule to capitalize Black when referring to a black person, but stated that there would not be a capitalization for a white person.
Last year’s edition included a chapter on inclusive storytelling, covering the language devised by the woke crowd, including pronouns and proper words to use when writing about gender, migration and race.
Just last month, the AP came down on the use of the term “late-term abortion,” stating:
“The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines late term as 41 weeks through 41 weeks and 6 days of gestation, and abortion does not happen in this period.
“Instead, use the term “abortion later in pregnancy” if a general term is needed, but be aware that there are varying definitions of the time period involved. Be specific when possible: Abortions after XX weeks when XX is known in the context of the story.”
While I generally believe in the AP effort to foster a uniformity in style, as a wordsmith of sorts, I freely use words of my own choosing, and when it comes to punctuation, I make liberal use of ellipses to help make a thought flow better.
The late Rush Limbaugh often said, “Words have meaning” when he was critical of someone misusing the English language, and often accused Democrats using terms to suit their agenda.
In one of his last broadcasts, he recommended the reading of Elie Purnell’s article, “10 Politically Correct But Factually False Words And Phrases To Stop Using Immediately” published in The Federalist.
Number 1 on her list was “Mainstream Media,” is which she cites several examples of how the Democrat-infested media misled the public.
Dittoheads will recall how Limbaugh referred to the leftist media as the “Drive-by Media,” reflecting its use of the Democrat party talking points, while ignoring proper research in its coverage.
Purnell also wrote of the use of “undocumented” rather than “illegal,” and the difference between “equity” and “equality” in her piece. Words the left uses to fit their narrative.
Democrats also find a way to tailor the language in their speeches, too. Speaking on abortion rights in Florida on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “A promise we made in the Declaration of Independence that we are each endowed with the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” conveniently and purposely omitting the word “life.”
Surely, you remember the words and she certainly knows, especially as a lawyer:
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I found it ironic that Harris referred in her speech to “a collection of words – there is a collection of words that mean everything to us as Americans: the heartfelt words of our great National Anthem. That America is the land of the free and the home of the brave,” yet she was critical … shouting “How dare they. How dare they” … of Americans, who are now free to decide abortion law in their states.
Just as Biden Democrats choose to use “extreme” and “MAGA” to describe Republicans, Kramerontheright will continue to refer to “the left” even if it is considered dehumanizing, and refer to the “Democrat” Party, because it is anything but democratic.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
