Congressional Gendered Speech Ban
January 8, 2021

Overshadowed by the foolish spectacle we all witnessed at the Capitol Tuesday, was something that occurred in the same building earlier this week, an event not as blatantly disgraceful but, perhaps, more ominous.

In George Orwell's remarkably prescient book "1984", one of the methods of thought control employed by the Ministry of Truth was the destruction of language. The ultimate goal, of course, wasn't the removal of the words themselves but, rather, the elimination of the concepts the words represent. In this way, the Party worked to narrow thought itself. Thoughtcrime would be impossible if the words that described "undesirable" activities did not exist. Enslaved minds could be further developed by the removal of free speech.

On Monday, during a time when the American people and, indeed, people of the world, face real problems at every turn, our Congress first undertook the mighty task of banning the use of gendered language in their chambers. I'm sure folks hoping for the additional stimulus discarded by Mitch McConnell appreciate that this important work took precedence on the agenda. Personally, I'm grateful they've made their priorities and intentions so clear.

While I admire Mr. Orwell's work, I don't believe he meant it as a playbook.