Operation Linguistic Control

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a warning about political repression, historical revisionism, mass surveillance, propaganda, censorship, and the state’s total control over truth. In the novel, which is set in an imagined future where war is perpetual, the dictator Big Brother and his government, ruled by the Party, dominate the superstate Oceania. Newspeak is the Party’s official language, designed to prevent dissent, obstruct critical thinking, suppress rebellion, and control the perception of reality, which is achieved by eliminating words and manipulating language. “We’re destroying words—scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone,” says Syme, a character who works in the Ministry of Truth and oversees the compilation of the latest edition of the Newspeak dictionary.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel published in 1949. Fast forward to 2025 and Trump’s America. Operation Newspeak is underway. Just last week, the New York Times ran an article about words that are discouraged at Federal Agencies under the new administration. A total 172 words appeared printed in red: Native American. Women. Black. Immigrants. Disability. Gender. Advocacy. Mental health. And of course any phrases or expressions having to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion: diverse backgrounds, diverse communities, diverse groups, diversified, diversify, diversifying, enhancing diversity, increasing diversity, inclusiveness, inclusive leadership… These words are all to be purged from websites, grant proposals, class curricula, without delay.

“Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller,” Syme explains in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Because critical consciousness depends on words.

Reviewing the list the New York Times provided, we should also notice the words that do not appear in red print. Words deliberately overlooked and unstated. Words accepted and retained, such as masculine, male, men, misogyny, patriarchy, white supremacy, color-blindness, colonialism, imperialism, fundamentalism, fascism, righteousness, entitlement.

Their absence from the list of disappearing words is a testament to their irrefutable presence in the federal government. These words do not need acknowledgment, endorsement, or permission. For governing, such words are a given; they are taken for granted by the new Big Brother and his Party.

Orwell suggests that in Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Oceania, many words will become obsolete by the year 2050, if not before. This is 2025. The time bomb ticks.

“Their silencing must be our speaking,” writes the historian and anti-racism activist Ibram X. Kendi, responding to the article in the New York Times. “Words to encourage in our homes, institutions, and neighborhoods.”

That is the task at hand: to speak up, to name and say disappearing words out loud to ensure they are not forgotten. To ensure that even though public-facing sites and documents will erase them, these words prevail in our minds, remain imprinted in our memories, continue to inform our thinking, understanding, and conversations.

Oral cultures can recite entire histories, genealogies, and traditions aloud and across generations. Just like that, let these words be our living archive: accessible, activism, activists, advocacy, advocate, advocates, affirming care, all-inclusive, allyship, anti-racism, antiracist, assigned at birth, assigned female at birth, assigned male at birth, at risk, barrier, barriers, belong, bias, biased, biased toward, biases, biases towards, biologically female, biologically male, BIPOC, Black, breastfeed + people, breastfeed + person, chestfeed + people, chestfeed + person, clean energy, climate crisis, climate science, commercial sex worker, community diversity, community equity, confirmation bias, cultural competence, cultural differences, cultural heritage, cultural sensitivity, culturally appropriate, culturally responsive, DEI, DEIA, DEIAB, DEIJ, disabilities, disability, discriminated, discrimination, discriminatory, disparity, diverse, diverse backgrounds, diverse communities, diverse community, diverse group, diverse groups, diversified, diversify, diversifying, diversity, enhance the diversity, enhancing diversity, environmental quality, equal opportunity, equality, equitable, equitableness, equity, ethnicity, excluded, exclusion, expression, female, females, feminism, fostering inclusivity, GBV, gender, gender based, gender based violence, gender diversity, gender identity, gender ideology, gender-affirming care, genders, Gulf of Mexico, hate speech, health disparity, health equity, hispanic minority, historically, identity, immigrants, implicit bias, implicit biases, inclusion, inclusive, inclusive leadership, inclusiveness, inclusivity, increase diversity, increase the diversity, indigenous community, inequalities, inequality, inequitable, inequities, inequity, injustice, institutional, intersectional, intersectionality, key groups, key people, key populations, Latinx, LGBT, LGBTQ, marginalize, marginalized, men who have sex with men, mental health, minorities, minority, most risk, MSM, multicultural, Mx, Native American, non-binary, nonbinary, oppression, oppressive, orientation, people + uterus, people-centered care, person-centered, person-centered care, polarization, political, pollution, pregnant people, pregnant person, pregnant persons, prejudice, privilege, privileges, promote diversity, promoting diversity, pronoun, pronouns, prostitute, race, race and ethnicity, racial, racial diversity, racial identity, racial inequality, racial justice, racially, racism, segregation, sense of belonging, sex, sexual preferences, sexuality, social justice, sociocultural, socioeconomic, status, stereotype, stereotypes, systemic, systemically, they/them, trans, transgender, transsexual, trauma, traumatic, tribal, unconscious bias, underappreciated, underprivileged, underrepresentation, underrepresented, underserved, undervalued, victim, victims, vulnerable populations, women, women and underrepresented.

“There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear,” Toni Morrison once said, “We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” May we heal before 2050. Before our democracy and our earth become obsolete.