Insanity Wrap #187: AP Plays Big Brother, Abolishes the Word 'Mistress,' Hilarity Ensues

Insanity Wrap needs to know: Could we please just go one whole day when the Left isn’t using 1984 or Brave New World as an instruction manual?

Answer: Nope.

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

Just wait until Facebook’s automated censors learn about Boysack, Scotland
America would have to destroy Baltimore to save it, except Baltimore is doing a fine job of the first part all on their own
Patrisse Cullors can smear anyone she wants without repercussion — call it Marxist privilege

And so much more.

Shall we begin?

This Is Not a Sane World, Exhibit #1,000,006

Daunte Wright had a warrant out for his arrest for attempted aggravated robbery charges after ‘choking and holding a woman at gunpoint for $820 in 2019,’ court papers reveal

Insanity Wrap isn’t here to defend former police officer Kimberly Potter.

She screwed up, bigly, mistaking her pistol for a Taser, and a young man is dead as a result.

But Daunte Wright is also dead as a result of his own bad choices and criminal actions.

What Insanity Wrap can’t wrap our head around is celebrating a life wasted like Wright was doing, even before he got himself killed.

Celebrating him in the form of a riot in one’s own neighborhoods is crazier still.

Your Daily Dose of Mostly Peaceful Protest

Another riot was declared following a third arson attack by #antifa in Portland within 72 hours. On Sat. they set the local @ICEgov on fire after barricading officers inside. On Mon. they set fire to a police facility. Now,they nearly burned down the union.https://t.co/YeqNJBMQMo

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) April 14, 2021

You wanted an insurrection, Democrats — well, you’ve had several in your own cities for about a year now.

Care to do anything about that?

[crickets]

We thought not.

The Craziest Person in the World (Today)

Patrisse Cullors Wealthy Marxist — Sell hate — it pays! ()

BLM says story about co-founder’s new multi-million dollar home are fueled by ‘white supremacy’

Oy: “This right-wing offensive not only puts Patrisse [Cullors], her child, and her loved ones in harm’s way, it also continues a tradition of terror by white supremacists against Black activists.”

Today’s craziest person in the world is anyone who thinks Cullors won’t totally get away with this obvious lie/dodge.

Crazy Colorado

Colorado's Four Seasons — (By the author.)

This is the view outside Insanity Wrap’s office window, and it isn’t an unusual sight for April.

Or May.

Colorado’s four seasons are winter, mud, construction, and fire.

Just don’t ask when they arrive or in what order, because nobody knows or can know.

Previously On Insanity Wrap: One of Our Vice Presidents Is Missing!

And Now For a Brief Moment of Sanity

Don't use the term mistress for a woman who is in a long-term sexual relationship with, and is financially supported by, a man who is married to someone else. Instead, use an alternative like companion, friend or lover on first reference and provide additional details later.

— APStylebook (@APStylebook) April 13, 2021

No, the AP did not just win the un-coveted Insanity Wrap Brief Moment of Sanity mention.

But the replies to the AP’s language-abusing inanity sure did.

A few choice selections from Twitter:

“Well, considering ‘mistress’ was far too polite, I can think of an entire tweet thread full of descriptive names and phrases we could use. This should be fun!”
“Sidepiece? Concubine?”
“Some words can’t be easily replaced with a new word that conveys the original meaning. The AP solution to the non-existent ‘mistress’ problem results in less intelligible copy. Way to go, AP!”
“Don’t use the term journalism for an organization that redefines language.”
“To the Heux that typed this out…go back to counseling cause he ain’t ever leaving his wife.”

It took Insanity Wrap a moment to decipher “heux,” but we got a chuckle out of it.

And our personal favorite: “Speaking as a former NJ resident, I believe the proper word is ‘Bubliablia.’ As in, ‘Whoa, who’s with Tony?’ ‘Oh, that’s his new bubliablia. Pronounced boo-blee-AH-blee-ah. You’re welcome. Now pass the cannolis.”

Insanity Wrap loves learning new foreign words that English adopted as its own, even if sometimes it feels like it might have happened at gunpoint.

The beautiful thing about language — and Insanity Wrap believes this is particularly true of English — is that it grows and mutates and evolves completely organically.

There’s always one eye on the past, on tradition and rules, to keep things intelligible. But one eye forward, looking for new ways to express new thoughts or to deal with new places, situations, technologies, challenges, and opportunities.

Yet, with only a very little extra training, we can still enjoy the works of William Shakespeare, written more than four centuries ago.

(To be fair, no one enjoys Titus Andronicus.)

All that, and nobody has to force anything on anyone.

Why replace one well-understood word with veiled words or phrases?

It’s a totalitarian impulse, best described in 1984 and in Brave New World, to alter the language purposely in order to enforce conformity.

Huxley gave us the gentle version, Orwell gave us the brutal version, but the goal in both societies was the same: To control what people can even think to themselves, by controlling the language.

The AP needs a reminder that neither Orwell nor Huxley meant to write instruction manuals.

Your Daily Dose of Social Media Nonsense

Facebook Deletes Bitche — (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)

Ville de Bitche: Facebook mistakenly removes French town’s page

Insanity Wrap long ago recognized the problem with artificial intelligence.

It’s genuinely stupid.

Targeted ads — that garner top dollar from advertisers — are maybe the silliest example.

What kind of algorithm sees that you’ve just bought a new set of luggage and decides to cover your browser tabs in ads for even more luggage?

“HOW MUCH LUGGAGE DO YOU THINK ONE WORK-FROM-HOME WRITER NEEDS?” Insanity Wrap yelled at our screen.

Here’s a more recent example:

Facebook has been criticised for temporarily removing the official page of the small French town of Bitche.

The social network’s algorithm confused the name of the town in Moselle, north-east France, with the English insult.

Bitche’s mayor said the Facebook page of the town (population 5,000) was removed on 19 March for violating site rules.

Facebook said it had reinstated the page on Tuesday after spotting the error.

Wait’ll Facebook’s not-so-bright algo gets a load of the cities listed on this page.

Here’s Another Damn Thing We’re Supposed to Be Concerned About

Maryland Dems Kill Crime Bill Amid Baltimore Murder Spike https://t.co/CR9qNRobV8

— A.C. Spollen (@ACSpollen) April 14, 2021

Actually, Insanity Wrap cares deeply about the fate of our cities.

The city — that dizzying concentration of industry, commerce, and culture — is mankind’s greatest achievement.

It takes incredible effort to build a great city, but very little to destroy it.

A few decades (or less) of uninterrupted Democrat management will do.

But Insanity Wrap has come to the sad conclusion that America’s cities will have to burn themselves down before they can be rebuilt back as centers of civilization rather than savagery.

We’d also like to apologize for being such a bummer today, but we must write about the world as it is.