Language is vital, and we should all be conscious about how we use it. We should never employ the insidious, carefully crafted language of Western regimes. It's tantamount to speading propaganda. We must all do better on this. It takes a lot of unlearning. 1/4 https://twitter.com/queeralamode/status/1352758795160612864

Orientalist and other colonial language is still widespread. The US Empire, European countries, and Israel are also continually creating new propaganda terms, which end up becoming commonly used in discourses against anti-imperialists, socialists, Muslims, etc. 2/4

Take 'regime', for example. This is a term reserved for the West's official enemies. When the US says 'Venezuelan regime', you should say 'Venezuelan government'. And why not, at the same time, help to create a brand new discourse? Flip it around and call the US a 'regime'. 3/4

Language subconsciously shapes how we think about issues, what we view as legitimate and illegitimate, how we perceive right and wrong. This is why so much time and effort is spent on planting these terms into public debate through think tanks, lobby groups, newspapers. 4/4