Words Matter—Or Not: The Biden Vocabulary of the Times

Victor Davis Hanson // Private Papers

Armed insurrection—a motley mob riot with no leaders, no firearms, no plans, and resulting in five fatalities, four from natural causes and one shot while unarmed by an unnamed police officer.

Assault—anything but 120 days of rioting, looting and arson, $2 billion in damage, 25 killed, and 14,000 arrested.

Bipartisan—you are if you hate Trump.

Cages—overcrowded border detention “facilities” created by the Obama administration and useful to the Biden team’s open-borders agenda. Otherwise known as “cages” between January 20, 2017-January 20, 2021.

Challenge—engineered utter chaos on the border.

Circling back—just circling and circling…

Collusion—the projection of the crime of the guilty onto those innocent of it.

Diversity—coerced uniformity of thought and expression.

Equity—the plan where everybody ends up the same except those who oversee it.

Gender—what people with degrees call sex.

Herd immunity—once a canon of epidemiology, then taboo, now an inconvenient truth.

Inclusion—mandatory state alienation of a majority of the population.

Infrastructure—borrowing trillions for anything but roads and bridges.

Latinix—unknown, maybe a gladiatorial character in some long forgotten Roman graphic novel.

Noncitizen—now used as if all legal US residents crossed the Southern border illegally.

Root causes—an abstraction used to evade the concrete evidence in front of you.

Scott Atlas—the Nemesis following Dr. Fauci’s hubris.

Unity—uniting half the country against the other half.

Woke—body snatched.

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14 thoughts on “Words Matter—Or Not: The Biden Vocabulary of the Times

  1. Very nicely done Dr. Hanson. I’ve watched the progressive left (is there any other kind?) for the last 50+ years twist language in an attempt to control the debate. Invariably they protest innocence when called on it or gaslight those who push back. I mourn the loss of wonderful words like “gay”, victims of a small minority and their enabling allies. I’m old enough to welcome being considered a curmudgeon when I refuse to follow the woke herd. I fear for my grandsons though.

  2. Thank you Prof Hanson. I had no idea of the statistics of the “mostly peaceful” protests, staggering. Imagine if they turned violent….

    Define the terms we say before discussing an important subject. Well done in your brief article. Perhaps it will open some minds here in MA. I will try it out.

    Thanks for all your work.

  3. Love this. I wish it could have gone on.

    The trouble is the only ones who would understand it are those against the clowns in Washington.

    Try to show this to liberals. They would all suddenly turn into Bidens – deer caught in the headlights – no clue.

  4. Root causes—an abstraction used to evade the concrete evidence in front of you.

    Such as arguing in favor of the “root causes” of black dysfunction and underachievement — absent fathers, crime, poverty, history of slavery, poor infrastructure, unionized teachers, etc., etc., etc. — when decades of criminality and tens of millions of IQ tests provide concrete, empirical (one of your favorite adjectives) evidence of inferior cognitive ability?

    You mean that kind of evasion, Professor?

    When will you review or interview Charles Murray about his latest book, Facing Reality? It seems right up your alley.

  5. Did he just crack a joke about graphic novels? VDH is pop-cultured enough to be a Tarantino fan. One wonders if he has a taste for graphic novels. Mayhaps Britannia and Maus? Or A Superman For all Seasons and The Dark Knight Returns?

  6. Good morning, Victor.
    I love your wisdom.
    Your writings are on my morning reading list. It’s refreshing to get off to a truthful start.

    Also, I remember being told about the “hoop” snake. The thought scared me to death. I’m 72, and grew up in a small town in South Carolina. The 1950s were a wonderful time to grow and experience the outdoors. Rode bicycles everywhere.

    We had a good-sized garden. My dad plowed it with what was known as our “Two Dollar Mule”, because that’s how much he paid for it. The barn was a mile or so away, so when he needed it, we’d walk the mile to get it, walk the mile back to the garden, he’d plow , then we’d walk it back and then finish with another walk back home. Those things I remember.

    FYI. With today’s politically-filled corporate world, I no longer drink Coke products; I no longer watch the network news; and I no longer trust the federal government. (I am a 24-year USAF veteran who served 3 years in the Vietnam war, with most of my combat missions flown over Laos). So, at one time, my feelings were different.

    I could go on, but should let it rest.

    Thank you, again, Victor!
    Jerry Payne

  7. I commend you sir for your courage to state the truth amidst the current climate of unmitigated insanity infecting the government and a fair portion of the citizenry. Also to do it an erudite manner with thorough understanding of the issues.

    I am always uplifted by your commentary and uplift is needed now in the sea of depressing events that threaten to engulf this once great nation.

    A mere “thank you” is insufficient but about all I can offer save that I have forwarded your comments to as many people as I know.

    Kind Regards,

    Brown Beezer
    Red Oak, North Carolina

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