{"id":10608,"date":"2026-01-20T15:39:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T20:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planetwordmuseum.org\/?p=10608"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:11:14","slug":"from-the-founder-on-the-coarsening-of-public-discourse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwordmuseum.org\/from-the-founder-on-the-coarsening-of-public-discourse\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Coarsening of Public Discourse"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent a couple weeks trying to draft one of my Messages from the Founder about students not reading whole texts in school (or out of school for that matter) and why that matters and what we can do about that, but in the meantime (and I do mean \u201cmean time\u201d) another topic has demanded my attention.<\/p>\n

When the President of the United States hurled the F-word toward a heckler and gave him the finger, something broke in me. Didn\u2019t we use to call someone\u2019s noble words \u201cpresidential\u201d? What word would I now use to describe someone with virtuous, compelling speech…without rolling my eyes?<\/p>\n

We have witnessed this coarsening of public discourse for a while now. \u00a0Previously, I wrote about a 2023 rally in Iowa<\/a> where even children were laughing about a vulgar chant about President Biden: \u201cLet\u2019s Go Brandon!\u201d<\/p>\n

I realize that what is considered a slur or inappropriate speech does change over time, but I wonder where this linguistic debasement is leading us. And the degradation of speech by the President doesn\u2019t stop there \u2014 lies and exaggerations fuel too many lines of his speeches and exhortations.<\/p>\n

As summarized in the New York Times<\/em><\/a> on this first anniversary of his second inauguration,<\/p>\n

[i]n the first year of his second term, President Trump has cited an arsenal of falsehoods, baseless claims and distortions to justify significant policy changes on the economy, immigration and deployments of the military.<\/p>\n

His case for ushering in a turnaround rests on inaccurate superlatives (the \u201cworst inflation\u201d ever under his predecessor and the \u201cbest numbers\u201d now under his presidency), mathematically impossible figures (a \u201c600 percent\u201d decline in drug prices) and evidence-free assertions (the decimation of maritime drug smuggling).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Throughout history, people have admired orators who could weave words into stirring phrases \u2014 their names and words have lasted centuries and still have the power to make us feel some deep, human emotion. Some of them are carved into our memorials and monuments throughout our nation\u2019s capital. Where are those paragons of language now?<\/p>\n

From ancient Roman orators like Cicero to American heroes famous for their way with words, such as\u00a0Abraham Lincoln,\u00a0Frederick Douglass, and John F. Kennedy, to British Prime Minister\u00a0Winston Churchill, to civil rights icons\u00a0such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and\u00a0Mahatma Gandhi, these eloquent, impassioned wordsmiths and speakers have led us through trials and warfare and urged us to follow our better angels. Their words still occasionally ring memorably in our ears.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s a question: If we want to reclaim rhetoric and the word \u201cpresidential,\u201d how would we do that? If our examples from television and radio and podcasts model the opposite, and financially benefit from doing so, how will young people or up-and-coming politicians learn to speak any differently? If swearing and vulgarity and outrageous claims ensure press coverage \u2014 and clicks \u2014 what will be incentives for the opposite?<\/p>\n

Faced with a President who doesn\u2019t use words to comfort the bereaved or to show compassion to the downtrodden or suffering, who will step forward to show how to use words to heal and bring us together as a nation? Have we become so cynical that impassioned speech is now considered suspect and is no longer able to motivate us to greatness?<\/p>\n

Does a selfish, me-first attitude really resonate with the majority of people nowadays? Or do good people just keep quiet out of a fear that they will seem Pollyannish or naive?<\/p>\n

It takes patience to unpack complex arguments, to follow conversations subtly layered with examples and evidence. Do we have the necessary attention span?<\/p>\n

As I write this, it\u2019s just after Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s birthday. His dream and his challenge changed our country\u2019s history. This July 4, we\u2019ll celebrate the 250th<\/sup> anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which contains the \u201cgreatest sentence ever written\u201d as proclaimed persuasively in Walter Isaacson\u2019s latest book.<\/p>\n

Read their words, and you will see just how powerful words can be and how they can lift us up to accomplish greatness if we let them.<\/p>\n

\u2014Ann Friedman, founder of Planet Word<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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