Jargonauts: California’s and the Nation’s Bane

Jargon has its place – quite often an important place.

At sea, there is a reason for words like port and starboard, lines and yards, and fore and aft.  Every communication must be specific, correct, and not open to misinterpretation. As a character in the great Whit Stillman film “Barcelona”  said:  “Either you dominate your environment in all four dimensions or you get very wet.”

In the operating room, the difference between anterior and posterior could mean difference between life and death.

Electricians, engineers, plumbers, mechanics and countless other fields have useful “in-speak” to either again, be hyper-accurate, or at least to save time.

For others, jargon is not actually necessary in any of those senses but as a way to signal club membership, to keep secrets, to keep power, to impress and cow the uninitiated, to sound smarter, to sound more valuable, and – most importantly – to make what is being said – or ordered –  sound reasonable, important, sciencey, researched, and not just plausible, not just standard practice, but the best and only permissible way to do something.

In other words, if you don’t know that the infrangilation praxis matrices for determining optimal outcomes across suboutputs are the prime and north star method to determine mid-term project funding support, then you simply have no idea what you are talking about and should not be allowed to be involved in the conversation.  (PS – only one of those words was made up – the rest form an actual but awful proper sentence.)

It is not necessarily news that bureaucrats – jargonauts – destroy language, upend meanings, obscure even the obvious on a regular basis.  Since they have no special talent and what they do could literally be done by anyone else (or, increasingly, any AI program) they must make what they do sound indisputable and indispensable.

Here in California, we have one very specific jargonaut who hopes one day to bring his obtuse oiliness to the national stage: Gavin Newsom.

Newsom uses jargon incessantly for a few reasons. First, he’s not actually terribly bright.  Second, he hears smart people use similar terms and thinks by using them he will at least sound smart. Third, growing up billionaire-adjacent, he has a permanent nagging feeling that he’s not part of the actual in-group and a very conscious knowledge that his life would be nowhere near what it is now if someone else had not made it possible; in other words, a pretender who does everything he can to cover up that fact.

The governor’s forays into incomprehensibility are legend…maybe not Kamala-level, but when even Stephen Colbert tells you your book needs a “bullshit translator,” you’re not that far behind.

Here are just a few of Gavin’s favorite words and terms (feel free to add more in the comments)

• Contextualize
• De-Risking
• Opportunity to elevate consciousness
• Success in that space
• Extend our thinking
• Move the puck forward
• Our north star
• Foundationally
• Intentionality

And, of course, “Meet the Moment’ which, horrifically, has been heard coming out of mouths of people in DC already.

And Newsom is just the tip of the iceberg that California hit a few years ago.

The State Water Resources Control Board, in developing its Racial Equity Plan, held “visioning and strategizing sessions,” not just meetings, and it will use the “racial equity lens” to “interrupt the impact of unintended consequences by taking into consideration the lived experiences and perspectives of the racially diverse communities the Water Boards intend to serve.”

Not to be outdone, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations (with Spa Quentin, opening soon, expect that name to change)   “became an innovator in the area of sustainability to both alleviate the adverse effects of a changing climate on the operations of CDCR, but also to establish a leadership position in environmental stewardship.”

While some jargonautese is merely funny/sad, some can alter the very fabric of society…or at least try to.

The current woke/equitarian societal explosion is in large part based upon controlling language, by either banning or suppressing certain words – and therefore thoughts – or by modifying existing words and phrases to the point of unrecognizability.

Just as one feels a bit off-kilter when one is wandering around a big building (think hospital or a government department, for example,) one can become hesitant and uncertain when dealing with new or changed words.  This feeling, by the way, is intentional – on the language side, the benefits of your confusion are clear to the person doing the confusing, while being stuck in a government maze actually engenders a sense of gratitude once you have finally arrived at your destination, making you just a bit more amenable to doing whatever you are going to be told to do there (same reason casino carpets are so garish and ceilings are so non-descript – the owners want you looking straight ahead at the slot machines, not up or down.)

As noted in previous pieces, here and here, words are weapons to control the debate, to set limits on what is “permissible,” to determine what kind of knowledge and “facts” are allowed.  Therefore, controlling them is the crucial battlefield of the culture war.

Often the meanings are hidden from the uninitiated, who must grope and intuit what is really being said and meant. But sometimes they are – at least temporarily – defined (temporarily because they are allowed, like pronouns, to be changed on a whim, at least according to the Mass(achusetts) Cultural Council, which states in its equity plan that “We recognize that language is fluid and the intersectional justice movement is redefining terminology regularly.”)

To provide the public with a small service, the Globe thought it proper to list a few hot button definitions we have come across on equity, etc. websites (they are not in any particular order and links to each site at the end of this story):

Assimilationist

One who is expressing the racist idea that a racial group is culturally or behaviorally inferior and is supporting cultural or behavioral enrichment programs to develop that racial group.

Ally

Someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice. Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways.

Caucusing

A caucus is an intentionally created space for those who share an identity to convene for learning, support, and connections. Caucuses based on racial identity are often comprised, respectively, of people of color, white people, people who hold multiracial identities, or people who share specific racial or ethnic identities.

Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime and conflict. It places decisions in the hands of those who have been most affected by a wrongdoing, and gives equal concern to the victim, the offender, and the surrounding community. Restorative responses are meant to repair harm, heal broken relationships, and address the underlying reasons for the offense. Restorative Justice emphasizes individual and collective accountability. Crime and conflict generate opportunities to build community and increase grassroots power when restorative practices are employed.

White Fragility

A state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable [for white people], triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.

Two-Spirit

Two-Spirit is an umbrella pan-Native American term. It describes gender identity, gender expression, and/or sexual orientation. Some Two-Spirits may align with colonial LGBTQ+ identities while others may not. However, keep in mind that Two-Spirit is not for non-Native people. You can’t appropriate our culture because our identities as Two-Spirits on Turtle Island (ed. – earth, by the way) have always been.

-or this-

According to ancient teachings, “two-spirited” people were considered gifted among all beings because they carried two spirits: that of male and female. It is told that women engaged in tribal warfare and married other women as there were men who married other men. These individuals were looked upon as a third gender in many cases and in almost all cultures they were honored and revered. Today, the term refers to Aboriginal people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered, other gendered, third/fourth gendered individuals that walk carefully between the worlds and between the genders.

Model Minority

While individuals employing the Model Minority trope may think they are being complimentary, in fact the term is related to colorism and its root, anti-Blackness. The model minority myth creates an understanding of ethnic groups, including Asian Americans, as a monolith, or as a mass whose parts cannot be distinguished from each other. The model minority myth can be understood as a tool that white supremacy uses to pit people of color against each other in order to protect its status.

Equity

To treat everyone fairly. An equity emphasis seeks to render justice by deeply considering structural factors that benefit some social groups/communities and harm other social groups/communities. Sometimes justice demands, for the purpose of equity, an unequal response.

Collusion

When people act to perpetuate oppression or prevent others from working to eliminate oppression.

Centering Blackness

Considering the Black experience as unique and foundational to shaping America’s economic and social policies:

• Centering Blackness demands that we create and design policies and practices that intentionally lift up and protect Black people.
• Anti-blackness doesn’t only impact Black people; it holds back and harms all Americans and necessitates collective healing.
• Centering Blackness allows for a completely different worldview to emerge, free from the constraints of white supremacy and patriarchy.

Privilege

Unearned power, benefits, advantages, access and/or opportunities that exist for members of the dominant group(s) in society. Can also refer to the relative privilege of one group compared to another.

Merit

Picking a candidate for a position who meets job-related selection criteria, such as skills, knowledge, experience and ability, at the level required for a position or assignment. (Note:  here’s the new part ) Merit-based criteria may also include unique diversity-related knowledge and experiences.

Cultural competence

An ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures, particularly in human resources, non-profit organizations, and government agencies whose employees work with persons from different cultural/ethnic backgrounds. Cultural competence has four components:

1. Awareness of one’s own cultural worldview
2. Attitude towards cultural differences
3. Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews
4. Cross-cultural skills (developing cultural competence results in an ability to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures.

Audism 

The notion that a person is superior based on their ability to hear or to act like a person who hears.

Color Blind

The belief that everyone should be treated “equally” without respect to societal, economic, historical, racial or other difference. No differences are seen or acknowledged; everyone is the same. 

Cultural Appropriation

The non-consensual/misappropriate use of cultural elements for commodification or profit purposes – including symbols, art, language, customs, etc. – often without understanding, acknowledgment or respect for its value in the context of its original culture. 

Decolonize

The active and intentional process of unlearning values, beliefs and conceptions that have caused physical, emotional or mental harm to people through colonization. It requires a recognition of systems of oppression.

Intersectionality 

A social construct that recognizes the fluid diversity of identities that a person can hold such as gender, race, class, religion, professional status, marital status, socioeconomic status, etc.

Microaggression

The verbal, nonverbal and environmental slights, snubs, insults or actions, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to target persons based solely upon discriminatory belief systems.

Race

A social construct that artificially divides people into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance (particularly race), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation, cultural history, ethnic classification, and the social, economic and political needs of a society at a given period of time.

Social Justice

Social justice constitutes a form of activism, based on principles of equity and inclusion that encompasses a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others.

Beyond definitions, there is also the concept making sure all of a person’s communications are “inclusive.”  Here’s a guide to achieving that, though it seems in large part by using the term “person with… or person experiencing…” one thing or the other –  https://writer.com/guides/inclusive-language/

Oh, and do not reference baseball, apparently.

Language matters and the woke, with its gulag-level of control of the media and academia, have the home field advantage when it comes to words.

It’s time for a prison break.

As promised, the websites:

https://www.racialequitytools.org/glossary

https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/teaching-human-rights-ontario-guide-ontario-schools/appendix-1-glossary-human-rights-terms

https://environment.uw.edu/about/diversity-equity-inclusion/tools-and-additional-resources/glossary-dei-concepts/