The AP Stylebook Now Has a Problem With the Word “The”

The AP Stylebook has been making a lot of recommendations in recent years that I disagree with—usually because they’re stupid.

For example, a couple of years ago they decided that the word “black” should capitalized when used “in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense.” It really didn’t make sense, but the fact that they decided that black should be capitalized, but white, even in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, would not be capitalized, made the recommendation racist.

The AP Stylebook has also recommended not calling a riot a “riot” and not calling a late-term abortion a late-term abortion. You can also imagine what they have to say about preferred pronouns.

But now the AP has taken issue with the word “the.”

For real.

“We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing ‘the’ labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant,” the AP Stylebook said in a tweet.

Honestly, when I first saw this, I thought it was an article from the Babylon Bee. Seriously, we’ve had plenty to criticize the geniuses at the AP Stylebook over, but I guess the snowflakes will never stop being offended by something.

I feel nostalgic for the days when pronouns and definite articles weren’t.

Editors note: The AP deleted its original tweet, so we replaced it with a screenshot.