Best-selling author and award-winning journalist Carol Off joined World Press Freedom Canada president Heather Bakken on Jan. 22 to discuss her new book At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage.
She discussed the erosion of democracy and the weaponization of language in an increasingly polarized world.
Off underscored the importance of precision in language and vigilance against demagoguery. Drawing parallels between today’s political climate and historical cautionary tales, she warned, “What’s at stake is everything we have developed in liberal democracy,” stressing the need for rule of law, equal opportunities, and the preservation of civil liberties.
“The people who are behind the oligarchy that speak behind Donald Trump right now have absolutely articulated their belief that democracy has outlived its usefulness, that democracy is the enemy of freedom, as we decided that you can’t be free in a democracy because you have to take care of other people,” she said.
Off’s remarks explored how language has become a key battlefield in political discourse. “Language becomes coded,” she explained, detailing how words like “woke” are being co-opted to obscure discriminatory ideologies. “It’s a way to smuggle odious ideas into public space,” she said, likening these tactics to those employed in fascist regimes of the past.
“You don’t have to say what you mean, everyone knows what you mean. There’s a whole chapter on woke and woke is a screen. There’s a way to smuggle odious ideas into the public space by saying, oh, I’m not against Jews, I’m not against women, I’m not against trans people, I’m not islamophobic, I’m not homophobic, I’m just against wokism. And so you’re allowed to use the woke as a way to say things that are truly islamophobic and racist and bigoted and get away with it,” she said. “It’s the same thing whether it’s a gesture, a hand gesture, or a word, if this is codes of allowing this fascistic language to enter into the public sphere, exactly as the Nazis did in the early 1930s.”
She emphasized the urgency of reclaiming terms like “freedom,” which she argued have been distorted by movements such as Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” to justify actions antithetical to democratic principles.
When asked for advice on navigating the “age of rage,” Off said: “Listen to language carefully. Ask what it means, and elevate the debate to protect people from the emotional manipulation that drives polarization. … So the role of the reporter in all of this is to really listen to the language, and to start, really pointing out how we’re being manipulated by language, she said.
Throughout the discussion, Off’s message was clear: journalism must rise to meet the moment. “We have to reclaim the language and ideas behind democracy,” she said.
Watch the full video on CPAC (click below)
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