On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that the term “equity” “is kind of an example of the practice we do now of changing language to change the way people think” and noted the fact that the term is in many pieces of legislation. He also argued that changing language to change thought “seems to be going on here more than it used to in this country.”
Maher said, “I’ve never heard equity…a lot before a few years ago. And now, I think it sounds like equality, but it seems to be a very different thing. And it’s in a lot of federal legislation now, equity.”
Later, he added, “Equity itself is kind of an example of the practice we do now of changing language to change the way people think. Which is something that’s gone on for a long time. Certainly, George Orwell wrote about that, and it’s gone on in many countries. And it seems to be going on here more than it used to in this country. I mean, we just mentioned BIPOC, which is a term I hadn’t heard.”
Maher also stated that there are other examples of people shifting terms to change how people think, like with the terms “pro-life” and “death tax.”
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