Fox guest calls the AP stylebook “newspeak ... trying to change words” to “cut us off from each other”
Dave Rubin: “It starts with changing words and next thing you know, you can't talk to other people, and you're paranoid, and the rest of it. And it's dangerous”
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Citation
From the October 1, 2020, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): The AP stylebook recently has just -- they tweeted out on Tuesday saying to use care when you're using the word "riot," opt for a milder word maybe like "unrest," they said that "riot" can have a negative racial connotation. And we remember a while back, they said don't use "illegal immigrant," use "undocumented." What do you think about the recent advice?
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Could be "alien."
DAVE RUBIN (PODCAST HOST): Well, I want to get this stylistically right. It's completely bananas. I mean, this is complete lunacy. I actually have the AP stylebook behind me here in my office as well. I don't consider myself a journalist. I tell people what I think for a living, but this literally -- and people often don't use the word literally correctly -- this is literally George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four newspeak. That we will change the meaning of words so that no one will ever be able to have a sensible conversation with anyone. We know what riots are. When you turn on the TV, and you see some of the things I talked about earlier with Molotov cocktails and small businesses burning down and people assaulting people in their cars and blocking traffic and all those things, those are riots. Why are they trying to change words? And they're trying to change words so that you can't calibrate, you won't be able to have a conversation with your neighbor because your language won't even be the same. And the more they can cut us off from each other -- and this is by design, changing words. It starts with changing words and next thing you know, you can't talk to other people, and you're paranoid, and the rest of it. And it's dangerous. This is -- this is really weird -- these are the same people, by the way, who will tell you that violence is not violence, but somehow words are violence.