Dictionary Site Just Chose Its Word of the Year — and It’s as Silly as You Expect – Opinion

Dictionary.com appears to be trying to establish its progressive social justice warrior status by appealing to this group. This particular action is not surprising in a world where woke corporatism seems to be all the rage.

The website has selected the word “allyship” as its “Word of the Year” for 2021. It is an acronym that refers to the social justice movement. This term is most commonly used in far-left progressive circles. It is used in the following: Associated Press explained:

The site offers two definitions for allyship: The role of a person who advocates for inclusion of a “marginalized or politicized group” in solidarity but not as a member, and the more traditional relationship of “persons, groups or nations associating and cooperating with one another for a common cause or purpose.”

This can also be applied to white protestors for the rights black and brown Americans. Black Lives Matter protestors during George Floyd were one example. This could be used to refer to individuals who are straight and want to assist the LGBTQ community. “Allyship” was a word that has been used frequently over the past year with the demonstrations that broke out after the murder of George Floyd.

The AP:

It’s the first definition that took off most recently in the mid-2000s and has continued to churn. Following the summer of 2020 and the death of George Floyd, white allies — and the word allyship — proliferated as racial justice demonstrations spread. Straight allies had joined forces with the LGBTQ causes of oppression and discrimination, as well as marginalization, before that.

John Kelly, Dictionary.com’s associate director of content and education, said:

“This year, we saw a lot of businesses and organizations very prominently, publicly, beginning efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. This is where allies are needed. There is an issue in the classroom around critical race theory. Allyship connects with this as well.”

Kelly stated that searches for the word “ally” rose considerably in 2020 and 2021 and was in the top 850 searches this year. The site “broadened the definition of ‘ally’ to include the more nuanced meaning,” according to the AP. The site also added “DEI” and “Critical Race Theory” this year.

According to The Associated Press:

Among the example’s [sic] of how to use the word in a sentence cited by Merriam-Webster is this one written by Native activist Hallie Sebastian: “Poor allyship is speaking over marginalized people by taking credit and receiving recognition for arguments that the unprivileged have been making for their entire lives.”

The site’s Word of the year isn’t the first to be political. In 2018, they chose the term “misinformation,” which might appear to be benign, but those on the right know that the left applies that label to viewpoints that contradict their own — not actual false information.

I know what you’re thinking: “But Jeff, how can you possibly know if Dictionary.com uses the left’s version of the word.”

This is evident in their examples, dear reader. The site singled out Cambridge Analytica, which “harvested personal data on Facebook to create in-depth psychological profiles of individuals, which were used to influence the Brexit vote and the US election,” according to the site.

It also stated:

Memes can spread misinformation and have severe, sometimes even fatal consequences. Cesar Sayoc Jr. was arrested for sending out 13 bombs via the mail to Trump’s opponents this October. The van was white and had memes emblazoned on its windows. He was fueled by misinformation and political memes that often circulated the message.

Pretty interesting that they did not bother to list an example of misinformation coming from the left, isn’t it?

In 2017, the Word of the Year was “complicit.”

Those who remember “Saturday Night Live’s”Ivanka Trump’s father is a meanie, so it was a stupid skit. This is what the article stated:

With a 10,000% rise in average daily lookups, March 12 saw the first spike in complicit searches. It was the same day that Saturday Night Live’s satirical ad featured Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump and hawked a fragrance called Complicit. This scent was marketed as “The fragrance for the woman who could stop all this, but won’t.”

Scott Pruitt, former chief of EPA was given the same label when he decided to withdraw the U.S. from the ineffective Paris Climate Agreement.

Climate change has been thrust into the spotlight this year with President Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement. Scott Pruitt (new EPA chief) has also been complicit in Trump’s refusal to admit that humans play a key role in climate change.

But despite their attempts to play to the woke crowd, choosing the word “allyship” is particularly interesting given the reality that most high-profile individuals and corporations to whom it would apply are not exactly as adamant about protecting the oppressed as it might seem. Consider other woke companies as an example.

A report published earlier this year showed that out of the combined $50 billion pledged by major corporations to supposedly promote racial “equity,” only a small fraction had been allocated or spent for this purpose.

But what about supposed “allies” in government? White progressives with high profile have managed to convince the country that they do care about black and brown Americans. But then they push for measures like “Defund the Police,” which has gotten a disturbing number of minorities killed.

Of course, this is not to say that there aren’t genuine allies out there working to help their fellow Americans. Many white Americans marched along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. even during the Civil Rights Movement. But unfortunately, it seems today’s version of allyship is more performative than authentic. So long as race is dominated by the hard left, it will be so.