They Were Slaves

The woke and politically correct, now-Independent conservative is cute and clever. (The "x" is a shot by George Conway against Elon Musk's rebranding of Twitter as X.)

Wait till he explains how enslaved people learned medicine by having to treat the welts on their own backs https://t.co/qvDZzyDOiA

— Xeorge Xonway (@gtconway3d) August 2, 2023

It's a point well-made. However, there is no shame in being descended from slaves or having been a "slave." The shame should be absorbed by the enslavers and not in the enslaved, as it is attached to the victims by refusing to acknowledge there were "slaves."

It is an inadvertent sanitization of slavery. a whitewashing (however minimal) of American history.  There was little demand from the generational African-American community to cancel- eradicate, if you prefer- the word "slavery."  

"LatinX" fortunately has gone by the wayside, never having gained a wide audience wherein people could become substantially annoyed with a word even the Latino community never liked. Voters take notice as more and more words or phrases are substituted for traditional, non-pejorative terms., and they know whom to blame.  Spoiler alert: it's not Republicans or conservatives. 

It could be strategic, intentionally or otherwise, for someone like Conway to use such phrases.  He split with the GOP over Donald Trump and nothing else and generally seems to be waiting in the wings for a conservative such as Chris Christie who will fight for tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate deregulation, and anti-labor values without explicit bigotry toward blacks and immigrants.

Rarely if ever is George Conway challenged on cable news regarding any issues aside from Trump, and his skepticism about the Republican Party seems limited to the ex-President's existence. If he invokes "enslaved people," it is unlikely a host or guest on MSNBC (on which Conway frequently appears) will spoil the party by asking him what he believes about actual issues.

Of course, the estranged husband of Trump loyalist Kellyanne Fitzpatrick Conway is not the only individual who uses trendy language instead of talking simply and clearly.  However, its use by a conservative lawyer should highlight the superficiality of much of the language currently and transiently in vogue.

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