Obfuscation watch. Tweaking the English language so what you say isn't quite true.

I've been meaning to start a thread like this for some time, but given recent events, massive obfuscation is really in evidence in debates and news.

Indeed, here's one area where the news media does the public a genuine disservice. Right wing critics of the press complain that it's biased, and in terms of the language they adopt, which tends to come right from liberal speak, they have a point.

This will be one of those trailing threads, so it will no doubt grow over time.

This is not, I'll note, intended to have a right/left theme to it.  It's just noting what ought to be noted. The older terms here, which people grew uncomfortable with, were honest ones.  The newer ones are intended to cloud the issue.

June 27, 2022

Some in the news or recently in the news starters.

Reproductive Rights:  This just means abortion.  When the press or an advocate speaks of "women's reproductive rights", what they mean is a woman having the legal option to kill her fetus. That's all they mean.

This has, we'd note, replaced being "Choice" as the word of the hour, that meaning the same thing.

The term "abortion" has never gone away, and based on the last week's news, people on both sides know what these issues mean in this sense, so the use of the less clear term is really pointless.

Gun Safety:  This means gun control, and nothing else.  The word was changed as gun control is widely unpopular, but everyone is keen on safety.

Whether a person is for gun control or not, just say it. There's no reason to suggest that anyone is really lead to some other point when discussing the issue by calling it "gun safety".

Undocumented Immigrant:  This means illegal alien.  The term illegal alien was used for decades, but that points out the fact that immigration without approval of the receiving nation is illegal, which those who are basically in favor of an open border, or uncomfortable with enforcing the nation's immigration laws, don't like to point out.  Being "undocumented" suggest that you just have to get some papers in order, which is incorrect.

Constitutional lawyer:  This seems to come up in describing lawyers with boutique practices, law professors who want to comment on the Constitution, or news people with law degrees.

There's no such thing as a "Constitutional lawyer".  All lawyers make use of the Constituion, and frankly lawyers who practice criminal law do so the most.