Woke Journalism - The Tidal Wave Of Change In Our Language

Words matter.

How can we communicate properly with one another if the people who are giving us the news speak with different rules of the English language than most of their audience?
In a recent podcast interview, political commentator Michael Knowles speaking on the left’s manipulation of speech stated, “You’re seeing a new set of standards, a new kind of censorship, a new kind of speech code. It just happens to be the inverse in many ways of the old standards that we had.”

Woke culture is simply changing the language we have spoken for centuries. The term “mother” is now outmoded, replaced by “birthing person.” Children are no longer “breastfed,” instead it is the act of “chest feeding.” The person representing you in the House of Representatives in Washington is no longer your “Congressman” or “Congresswoman.” Instead, Nancy Pelosi is demanding they be called “Congresspersons.”

This is not only happening on social media and in progressively-controlled institutions, but it is happening deep inside newsrooms across the country. When the Associated Press embraced the use of “they” as a singular pronoun in their 2017 AP Stylebook, the Stylebook’s lead editor, Paula Froke, said at the time, “We offer new advice for two reasons: recognition that the spoken language uses ‘they’ as singular, and we also recognize the need for a pronoun for people who don’t identify as a he or she.”

Just keep in mind that The AP Stylebook is the industry bible for all print media, therefore setting the standard by which news is communicated.

This new, woke thinking by the press even impacted the coverage of Palmetto Family. When former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at our dinner in April, the AP, following their stylebook guidelines, changed our organizational definition from “pro-life” to “anti-abortion.” Thankfully, South Carolina’s Chief Political AP correspondent Meg Kinnard did not allow the change to remain in her piece, and the organization was labeled as “pro-life.”

In this era of Woke-ism, it isn’t very difficult to see the parallelism between Genesis 11 and where we stand in 2021. Our language is being changed nearly every day.

In the book of Genesis, we read that the “whole earth had one language and one speech.” (Genesis 11:1) Yet the people used their common language to make a name for themselves and build a tower that would reach Heaven. God confused their language, halting the project in its tracks, and dispersing the people all over the world.

Just like the people in the land of Shinar, we are being confused and scattered. The subtle remodeling of our language that began in the previous decade has now become an avalanche of change.

A simple search will show you that today, we don’t have two genders – male and female. Instead, we have 72.

In this whirlwind of change, the political left is trying to confuse our language to confuse others about God. Whether they want to admit it or not, those who claim to not believe in God are desperately trying to do the same thing He did in Genesis 11 — confuse the people by confusing their language.

Societally, we are toeing the shoreline as the tsunami of woke ideals wash over our corporations, schools, and even churches.

How can we keep our heads above the raging waters?

In the famous George Orwell novel, 1984, Big Brother continuously put 2+2=5 in front of the people. And eventually, they simply believed it to be fact. And anyone who still clung to the truth of 2+2=4 just simply didn’t want to believe the new, obvious truth.

We must cling to truth, no matter the cost. And that truth is that God has predestined each one of us to be conformed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

The push for “inclusive language” is at its very core, divisive. And it is an effort by many on the left to replace the Imago Dei, or the truth that every man and woman is made in the image of God.

As we listen to this debate brewing, we must hold fast to the foundational truths of our faith. That means not accepting, and pushing back against, these attempts to change the very way in which we communicate with one another. And we must never apologize for that.

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