Just like many dictionary publishers, the Associated Press Stylebook has increasingly become a tool used by far-left types in newsrooms to promote dangerous, agenda-driven word policing, which in turn has better enabled them to control (and further advance) woke agendas and narratives while fostering a forced GroupThink atmosphere.
One of the more notable examples was how the Stylebook declared in October 2020—in the aftermath of the widespread Antifa/BLM-led rioting that took place in Democrat-run cities—that news outlets should not refer to riots as riots. They’ve also issued guidance on the use of “pregnant people” in stories, and have banned the term “illegal immigrants” in articles about illegal immigrants.
But in one of the most epic self-owns in media history, the AP Stylebook had to kinda sorta walk back their recommendation on discontinuing the use of the word “the” in certain instances because of one very glaring example in their original and since-deleted tweet that didn’t quite fit:
We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.
Here’s a screengrab of the original tweet:
Hilariously, in a follow-up tweet, the Associated Press corrected its Stylebook, pointing out that including “the French” was “inappropriate”:
In their updated tweet, “the French” was taken out though “the college-educated” was left in for reasons only known to the AP:
The Stylebook Twitter account also posted a follow-up noting they didn’t mean to offend, but still strangely endorsed the general idea from the original tweet regarding “the”:
Naturally, the AP was relentlessly mocked, including by the French Embassy here in the U.S.:
Twitter CEO Elon Musk also got in on the act:
As did the Babylon Bee:
Also, Google would like a word:
Others called out the AP for their admission of sorts that they were dehumanizing the unvaccinated in their prior reports:
Also, does their new rule apply to “the rich”?
In a New York Times write-up on the AP’s “the” guidance, their Paris bureau chief Roger Cohen couldn’t resist getting in a few digs:
How “the French” constitutes a “label” left many French people mystified. It is simply who they are. Paula Froke, the editor of the A.P. stylebook, did not respond to a request for comment.[…]Jeremy McLellan, a comedian, tweeted that “My favorite movie is The Connection with Frenchness,” a reference to “The French Connection.” It appears unlikely that “pass the fries with a touch of Frenchness” would go down well.Certainly, no French diplomat has ever complained that being called an envoy of “the French” was somehow dehumanizing. In fact, the French rather like being stereotyped as the French, if that is the issue. They undergo Frenchness with considerable relish.
Dear Associated Press, when even your comrades at the New York Times are unimpressed, you know you’ve lost the argument.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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