Michael Knowles: Control The Words, Control The Culture

Daily Wire podcast host Michael Knowles discusses the Left’s war on words in a new video from Prager University, “Control the Words, Control the Culture.” Knowles discusses how the use of language can affect both the culture and the politics of a country.

“What’s in a word?” Knowles asks. “Why does it matter whether we call someone who breaks the law to enter the country an ‘illegal alien’ or a ‘undocumented immigrant?’ What’s the difference between a Christmas tree and a ‘holiday tree?’ It’s just semantics, right? Yes . . . and no.

“It is just semantics, but ‘semantics’ means the meaning of words,” he explains. “Words exist so that we might discriminate one thing from another. Without words we have chaos. And it starts with the first words; a baby says mama to distinguish mommy from daddy. Words shape how we think; they color how we view the world.

“No one understands this better than the Left,” Knowles continues. “They are the masters of words. Because they know that words matter. The Left has a special gift for euphemisms — soft words selected to sugarcoat harsh realities so as to make those harsh realities easier for us to swallow. But these soft words are insidious. Their sole purpose is to deceive.”

Using examples of verbal deception from topics such as science (“global warming” became “climate change”), sexuality (the pronoun war), race (“affirmative action”), and current events (“overseas contingency operations”), Knowles highlights how the Left will change the language to promote an agenda.

Watch the video below: