So what happens when you tell people they can’t use certain words? You censor not just language, but thought itself. Ironically, the Leftist denial of phenomena like cancel culture is just proof of this: their thoughts are so censored that they literally cannot imagine that anything exists outside their mental walled gardens. All censorship is mind control; the only people who deny that have already had their minds taken from them.
And in America, within the last fifty years, everyone seems to want to control words – and minds. So much so that now we treat any word as questionable. Which is why you see articles with titles like “Changing Terminology in LGBTQ+ spaces: How to keep up with the lingo” and “All of These Words are Offensive (But Only Sometimes).” This has even extended to science, where the fear of accidentally being or being perceived as racist is now labeled “racism-themed OCD.” Yes, our mental conditioning has gone so far that there’s even a mental illness based on a fear of subconsciously being politically incorrect. We are down the rabbit hole.
And being down the rabbit hole, everything is topsy turvy. For example, apparently segregation is good now, so long as it’s self-imposed by minorities against whites rather than from the outside by whites against minorities. Words become offensive – or not – based on who says them, as one sees whenever some Leftist group or other tries to “reclaim” a slur. Needless to say, “one set of rules for thee, but not for me” is antithetical to every great American accomplishment, including the civil rights movement. Yet Leftists go right along with all of it, like lemmings marching off a cliff.
But if you read Human Events, you know this. The real question is not what Leftists do, but how they get away with it. And there, we do have an answer: Leftist leaders abuse the very reasonable fear of being impolite as a way to puppeteer the minds of like-minded people, while surrounding those people with Social Justice Warriors whose reactions they have to “watch” the same way they watch their words. This groupthink-oriented method enables the Left to then seamlessly dehumanize anyone considered part of the arbitrarily chosen “oppressors:” predominantly white, straight, cis-gender, males. Scapegoating them, in fact, becomes the cornerstone of these victimization enthusiasts’ beliefs, because to be an outsider to the progressive bubble is, by definition, to be an enemy, and the enemy must be defeated. In a word, the Left treats its adherents like cult members.
So why do the adherents fall for it? Well, humans have many deep-seated desires, and among those are a longing to belong and a need for religious fulfillment, a higher purpose, a solution. The modern world has trends rolling by faster than can be counted, from fashion, to entertainment, to beliefs. None of these trends are very stable and they cannot be grasped onto for anything but short-term relief. People need something more permanent, more meaningful. Which is precisely what makes them vulnerable to cultlike control. And cults – like the woke one -- have responded accordingly, auguring satisfaction to all who agree to outsource thinking to them. One way they do this, as the Left does where slurs are concerned, is by controlling what language people are allowed to use, as well as who they are allowed to use it towards and about, and always with the promise that these unfair restrictions actually make the cult a more welcoming, inclusive place.
It gets worse. Cults also, by definition, have traditionally controversial beliefs: beliefs like, say, that men can become women just by changing the pronoun by which they are referenced. Cults also encourage isolation of the members, in order to maintain both physical and mental control over them. What did the echo chamber on, say, pre-Musk Twitter or on modern day TikTok do if not mentally isolate people? What were the COVID lockdowns if not an attempt to physically isolate the entire population? Cults also use trigger phrases – yes, “trigger” phrases – and buzzwords in order to suppress critical thinking which might make members walk away. Which is why so many conversations with liberals sound exactly the same; it’s a trained response. They seem like NPCs not because they can’t think, but because they’ve been trained not to. Trained, as all cults train their members, with draconian punishment and reward systems: in the Left’s case, cancel culture vs “allyship.”
However, there is one ingredient missing. Have you spotted it? That’s right: cults usually have a single charismatic leader, and no one would accuse, say, Joe Biden of being that. But I would argue that even the most gifted cult leader would have trouble controlling a cult the size of the modern day woke Left. By some estimates, the woke are approximately 25 percent of the US population. In fact, it might make more sense to see the Left not as one cult, but as many allied cults with different leaders depending on the issue: Dylan Mulvaney on transgenderism, Nancy Pelosi on abortion, Ibram Kendi on race, AOC on climate, etc. How do you spot a Leftist cult leader, then? Simple: look at the way they talk. All cult leaders portray their ideals through rose-colored glasses. They offer grand assurances that don’t realistically yield beneficial results. How many of those do you hear on TikTok alone every single day?
Now, here’s the really scary part: even after people leave cults physically, they have a hard time doing it mentally. Even after they realize the cult only offers lies, they can’t let go. When someone invests in an idea, believing it will heal the empty space they hold within themselves, letting go of it is the most harrowing and difficult task. Many don’t have the strength for it.
And just in case you weren’t already scared, understand this: cult language can infiltrate the minds not just of willing victims, but even of people who thought themselves to be committed unbelievers. In fact, the belief that you are invincible to cult tricks often makes you more vulnerable to them. As Financial Times writer Nilanjana Roy has reported, “with emotionally charged buzzwords and euphemisms, renamings, chants, mantras, and even hashtags, pernicious gurus are able to instill ideology, establish an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ justify questionable behavior, inspire fear, gaslight followers into questioning their own reality . . . essentially everything a cult needs to do in order to gain and maintain power.” Sound familiar? This is the real reason Leftists talk about “trigger warnings” and words being “violence”: they’re ways to force their followers into a recalcitrant mindset, unable to communicate.
So what have we learned? Firstly, that modern Leftist “words are okay for me but not for thee” messaging is a mirror of cult language techniques. Secondly, that the woke prey systematically on the same things as other cults: the deeper desire for belonging, to be a part of something, which is catered to by their exclusive and discriminatory behavior. Thirdly, that the movement ruthlessly stomps out independent thinking using the cudgels of privilege and oppression; nobody wants to be an “oppressor.” And fourthly, that this cult – like a hydra – has many heads, all of which lie as easily as they breathe.
The result is obvious: a constant confusion of what words mean, when they’re okay, and who gets to use them. This scheme of ‘politically correct language’, is killing personal responsibility, development, and communication. And why not? It is essentially an attempt at mass mind control; a brutal attempt to fuel bigotry and set a precedent to strip us of our rights. Which is why, if we want to save America from the cult of silence that is tightening its grip around our throats, we have to stand against the Leftist cult’s manipulation and discrimination so that we may secure the freedom of current and future generations.
Margaret Schultz was homeschooled and currently plans to attend New Saint Andrews College. She aspires to earn her BA and is looking to work in politics and psychology in the future.
