Military leaders are rattled by a list of “woke” senior officers that a conservative group urged Pete Hegseth to dismiss for promoting diversity in the ranks if he is confirmed to lead the Pentagon.
The list compiled by the American Accountability Foundation includes 20 general officers or senior admirals and a disproportionate number of female officers. It has had a chilling effect on the Pentagon’s often frank discussions as leaders try to figure out how to address the potential firings and diversity issues under President-elect Donald Trump.
Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity.
Context matters. Always, in all things, but especially language. (i can rant about tomatoes if i need to.)
While i can see that you might think i was making a general statement, i feel confident that the context makes it clear that “actor” applies specifically to persons engaging in political persuasion by propogating advertisements or financing lobbyists.
Still, in the interests of clarity, let me re-state the maxim with the context more explicit:
In politics, no good actor needs to hide their actions.
Contextually, it didn’t read like you were saying “only for people holding/affecting public office”, it read like a universal statement of the form: “No X are Y”
I’m glad we agree. And in addition to context, clarity matters in language. Historically, it’s not an absurdly slippery slope to go from “these politicians are corrupt” to “privacy is for terrorists!” Overly simplifying our choice of language can foster undesired radicalization.
Cheers