{"id":42454,"date":"2025-06-15T18:28:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T23:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=42454"},"modified":"2025-06-15T18:28:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T23:28:36","slug":"gibberish-is-exclusionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2025\/06\/15\/gibberish-is-exclusionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Gibberish is Exclusionary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Communications is the transmission of concepts from one group to another group. This is accomplished mostly via words, with some support from, in print, from font modifications and pictures, and in spoken language the use of body language, and other modalities.<\/p>\n

Quick! Did you wonder at the word modalities<\/em>?<\/p>\n

For example, if I were giving a speech and used the word secular<\/em>[1]<\/a><\/sup> in its tertiary sense of Greater than 100 years<\/em>, without explaining that alternative definition, the confusion that would follow during the speech might easily anger some of the audience.<\/p>\n

My point is that using words unknown, or at least unfamiliar, to your audience can result in failure; worse yet, in the social tableau of humans, it can result in alienation, anger, <\/em>and frustration<\/em>. In fact, it can be perceived as exclusionary, and those who are excluded in a society in which groups are rivals to each other often migrate to the rival regardless of fundamental disagreements.<\/p>\n

So I was surprised when this very conclusion was not mentioned in this WaPo<\/strong><\/em> article<\/a>\u00a0that opens with:<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s using the word \u201coligarchs\u201d instead of rich people. Or referring to \u201cpeople experiencing food insecurity\u201d rather than Americans going hungry. Or \u201cequity\u201d in place of \u201cequality,\u201d or \u201cjustice-involved populations\u201d instead of prisoners.<\/p>\n

As Democrats wrestle with who to be in the era of President Donald Trump, a growing group of party members \u2014 especially centrists \u2014 is reviving the argument that Democrats need to rethink the words they use to talk with the voters whose trust they need to regain.<\/p>\n

They contend that liberal candidates too often use language from elite, highly educated circles that suggests the speakers consider themselves smart and virtuous, while casting implied judgment on those who speak more plainly \u2014 hardly a formula for winning people over, they say.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s worth remembering, too, that politicians of all stripes, as well as top military brass, corporate leaders, religious leaders, and even leaders of non-profits, are considered liars[2]<\/a><\/sup> by varying segments of the citizenry. Using fancy-schmancy words that are puzzling and even misleading can pave the path to lying by everyone from military leaders to tobacco company CEOs – or so it’s perceived by the audience.<\/p>\n

In the end, using sophisticated, unfamiliar words to communicate simple, familiar concepts is an exclusionary practice<\/strong>, which is precisely contradictory to the goal of the Democrats. They remain arrogant and too impressed with themselves, with a few exceptions.<\/p>\n

Too bad the Republicans are even less acceptable. My guess is that we’ll be seeing most members of Congress replaced in the near future by an electorate that is tired of all the lying and abuse, regardless of the source.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a>1<\/sup> As in Secular Cycles<\/strong><\/a>, by Turchin & Nefedov.<\/p>\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> My nickname for President Trump is The Mendacity Machine<\/em>; mendacity<\/a> is a sophisticated way of saying he has a habit of lying, and it seems like another lie comes crawling out every time President Trump waggles his tongue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communications is the transmission of concepts from one group to another group. This is accomplished mostly via words, with some support from, in print, from font modifications and pictures, and in spoken language the use of body language, and other modalities. Quick! Did you wonder at the word modalities? For \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42454"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42457,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42454\/revisions\/42457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}