numerous online sources credit the left wing activist saul walensky, he who controls language controls as aristotle says they're never wrong about quotations. the george orwell's novel remains so haunting, a depiction of how a totalitarian reseem can control people by cracking down what words they use. we sense some truth in the novelist angela carter's observation that language is power, the instrument of domination and liberation. this belief that the words we use actively shape our political beliefs and behavior crosses partisan lines, but in our contemporary discourse, the left is especially inclined to try shaping political thought by imposing changes on our language. see, for example, trying to make latinx happen. are these assumptions about language as power true? can pronoun lists and fogable jargon usher in social reform? changes through linguistic manipulation instead have unintended consequence. we have one of america's foremost linguists, john mcwhorter from columbia university. university an agree from stanford. the power of babble. nine nasty words, language in the gutter