Some phrases I wish Democrats would actually stop using.
The radical centrists at Third Way recently circulated this weird word policing memo that lists words and phrases they think Democrats should stop using. The objectionable verbiage is sorted into categories, with explanations and descriptions. For example, “Therapy-Speak” like “privilege” and “dialoguing” apparently communicates “I’m more empathetic than you, and you are callous to hurting other’s [sic] feelings,” which we’re supposed to understand is a bad thing. Similarly it’s uninviting and repelling to use “Organizer Jargon” like “small ‘d’ democracy” or “food insecurity” or “The Shifting Language of Racial Constructs” like “allyship” or “intersectionality.”
This whole thing is silly and misguided, based on a fantasy version of the left that I’m not convinced exists—what politician is saying “progressive stack” regularly enough to be an issue? More broadly, this instinctive punching left at anything that smacks of gender, or academics, or whatever else the center is scared of, is never about language. It’s about the values these words represent, which they don’t like.
This isn’t about a desire for simpler, colloquial language. JB Pritzker, Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Zohran Mamdani have been speaking plainly, often for years. But they’re not getting the same praise that podcast governors are getting for gabbing with the right and punching down at trans people. Suggesting we stop saying anything that sounds like “gender” or “therapy” or “organizing” is dishonest; the centrist complaint has always been more about the content than the veneer.
And beyond avoiding confusion or “communicating in authentic ways”—they can’t seem to imagine that someone might use these terms earnestly—this whole framework is crucially built around coaxing a poor, fragile, right-wing straw man to vote for a Democrat. “Much of the language above” the Third Way argues, “is a red flag for a sizable segment of the American public.”
It is not because they are bigots, but because they fear cancellation, doxing, or trouble with HR if they make a mistake. Or they simply don’t understand what these terms mean and become distrustful of those who use them.
It’s always cancel culture and a discomfort with change for these people! Pretty rich to be calling for a comfortable environment where right wing voters won’t feel attacked, from the very same people who are telling us to stop saying “safe space” and “triggering.” Which is it? Are we speaking to grown ups who we can expect to tolerate some discomfort, or are we infantilizing skittish children who don’t want to feel icky about their fascism?
It doesn’t make any sense to me to be more accommodating to a group of right-wing Americans who are using language in much more frightening ways than “incarcerated people” or “BIPOC.” The right is being horrifyingly plain in bleating their bigotry, but they’re also lost in linguistic obscurities. Trump and his hogmen are co-opting actual Nazi lingo from the gutter of the internet, speaking in references only Fox News viewers and Q-Anon adherents can parse, and rehabilitating the r-word as some sort of edgy pose that the rest of us learned was cruel in middle school.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t things that Democrats should stop saying. I have a list of phrases below that I think could help the center speaking more plainly:
“Polling says”
This says, “I’m afraid to say what I really believe.”
“My friends on the other side of the aisle”
This says “My friendships, either performed or real, with people who are auditioning to be American’s Next Top Authoritarian Sycophant are more important to me than having values.”
“Hard-working Americans”
This says, “I can’t think beyond tropes and have a hard time imagining people as anything other than economic units.”
“How do we pay for it?”
This says, “I don’t want to pay for this.”
“The children’s sports issue”
This tells me, “I don’t care about trans people because I am heartless and use polling data to convince myself that my weaponized discomfort is correct.”
“The next election”
This tells me, “I think there will be a next election without me doing anything to ensure that it happens.”
“At the ballot box”
This says, “Why don’t you guys do something for a change? I’m getting a little tired here.”
“Wanna-be dictator”
This says, “I have a secret, personal ‘Dictator Red Line’ that I made up, and it hasn’t been crossed yet. And until it does, I’m not really worried.”
[long, rambling, clause-bloated run-on sentence]
This communicates, “An army of McKinsey consultants and pollsters Frankensteined this Authentic Personal Opinion for me.”
“My constituents aren’t concerned about this.”
This says, “This doesn’t affect me personally.”
“Now isn’t the time for this conversation”
This says, “I imagine I will be dead and buried by the time this becomes a real problem.”
“Seniority still counts”
This says, “Don’t ask me how old I am, ask me how old I feel!”
“The definition of genocide is complicated”
This communicates, “I don’t care about Palestinian people because I am heartless.”
“This is a distraction”
This communicates, “I don’t care about this present nightmare, and am uncomfortable, and need an adult, help.”
“Listen to the other side”
This says “I haven’t really been paying attention for 10-15 years! Maybe longer!”
“Stop saying things that make people uncomfortable”
This tells me that, “I want to be excused for my unprincipled insincerity and lack of values, so instead, let’s get lost in a semantic cul-de-sac of fencing about word choice.”
