‘Woke’ and Other Fake Political Words, Decoded

Each era produces its own redundant political language. The number one meaningless word right now is “woke”, used to denote “any acknowledgment of racism or sexism”, “expressing an opinion on being black or female”, or “a new thing I don’t like”. goes. I’ve tried to identify some of today’s other bogus political words and phrases:

• “freedom”: Commonly used by American liberals to denote “my liberty, not yours”. When they invoke “freedom,” they usually mean, “I should be free to do what I like, whether that’s buying a gun, driving my car in your city, or not wearing a mask.” ” They do not accept trade-offs; Their freedom precludes other people’s freedom to go out safely or catch Covid-19. A case study of “my freedom, not yours” is Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” who lets authoritarian regimes censor content on Twitter.

• “conservative”, “populist”: Both terms are regularly applied to Trump-style movements. However, these movements are anything but “conservative” because they aim to destroy traditional institutions. “Populism” once had an agreed academic meaning—Cas Mudde defined it as the idea that politics was a struggle between “pure people” and “corrupt elites”—but this clarity has been lost in popular debate. The best term to describe Trumpian movements is usually “nativist” or “far-right”.

• “witch hunt”: A phrase that has become the first refuge of any political scoundrel in legal trouble. Anyone trying to believe this without seeking corroborating evidence should reflect that it has been used with credibility by Republican Congressman Jorge Santos, who has been accused of fraud , and Donald Trump before that.

, “Media” (or “mainstream media”): A meaningless phrase because there are countless very different media that don’t work together.

• “Not a panacea”: A phrase often used to criticize a particular policy, but is meaningless because no intervention in society is a panacea.

, “understood”: A social media phrase used to mean “agree with me”.

, “Is not correct”: Often a political regime was defended, such as, “The government of my country is not perfect, but . . . ” In fact, since no human creation is perfect, the phrase is intended only to deflect valid criticism.

, “Fake News”: In 2016, this meant factories of low-paid trolls producing false content that masquerades as news on Facebook. Trump – today’s foremost creator of fake political language – repurposed the phrase to make any news story inconvenient to the speaker.

, “We will meet this goal by 2030, 2050, etc.”: This means, “It is up to future leaders to decide whether they will make any sacrifices to fulfill this goal.”

, “Lasting Luxury”, “sustainable flight”, etc: This usually means something like, “We cut the carbon emissions of our packaging by 7 percent, so buy more of our stuff.”

, “Critical Race Theory”, “Gender Theory”, “Marxism”: Words mostly used by natives who have read absolutely zero work from any of these fields.

, “Cancelled”: Some people have actually been denied public forums or even fired for saying things that were (often unfairly) considered bigoted. Usually, however, those who claim to have been “cancelled” mean “criticized”, “convicted of sexual harassment”, “replaced by someone who is not an extremist” or simply “overlooked”. “. I’ll always remember the obscure French writer who told me that Le Monde was “boycotting” his books.

, “community”: Often means “ethnic group”, as in “Jewish community”, “Hispanic community”, “Black community”, etc. The pretense that all “Hispanics”, for example, are united. Then you can go and see their “community leaders” – often self-appointed elderly men – who will tell you what the “community” wants. The term is commonly used by white people who never consider themselves to be members of the “white community”. They feel that they are individuals, they have their own thoughts.

George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” “Political language is designed to make falsehood seem truth and murder honorable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure air.” 13 pages). He lists other “worn out and useless” words and phrases that were disappearing in his day: jackboot, Achilles heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable hell. Words later used after the 9/11 attacks suffered the same fate: “hero” (a euphemism for the victims) and “greatest country on earth” (meaning the largest military and gross domestic product). People were eventually embarrassed to “resign to the international community” or “to spend time with my family”. As Orwell said, you can only think clearly when you drop meaningless words.

Follow Simone on Twitter @coopersimon and email it simon.kuper@ft.com

follow @FTMag Be the first to find out about our latest stories on Twitter