{"id":270,"date":"2025-01-18T17:17:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T17:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kirstenmengeranderson.com\/blog\/?p=270"},"modified":"2025-02-19T23:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T23:45:10","slug":"language-too-is-never-neutral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kirstenmengeranderson.com\/blog\/the-expert-of-subtle-revisions\/language-too-is-never-neutral\/","title":{"rendered":"Language, too, is never neutral"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The language we use to describe history is a choice. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/755241\/the-expert-of-subtle-revisions-by-kirsten-menger-anderson\/\">THE EXPERT OF SUBTLE REVISIONS<\/a>, the changes Hase makes when she edits Wikipedia\u2014replacing \u201ckilled\u201d with \u201cmurdered\u201d, \u201criot\u201d with \u201cprotest\u201d, \u201cshe was beaten\u201d with \u201che beat her\u201d\u2014are examples of how seemingly small changes can shift the meaning of a sentence, and subsequently a reader\u2019s understanding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1927 Vienna, two of the novel\u2019s characters, Josef and Sophia, each describe a historical moment where their paths cross: Josef sees the people gathered around him at the Palace of Justice as a riot. Sophia, who stands on a bench and calls for justice, sees the gathering as a protest. What happened that day? Without knowing more context\u2014much more than can fit in this post\u2014it&#8217;s impossible to say.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But whether we&#8217;re reflecting on the rise of fascism in Austria in the 1930s, or the political events of today, it&#8217;s worth remembering that a brief text, such as this one, provides, at best, only a&nbsp; piece of a story, and that language isn\u2019t neutral, it reflects a point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>THE EXPERT OF SUBTLE REVISIONS will be out on March 18th from Crown and is available now for <a href=\"https:\/\/kirstenmengeranderson.com\/blog\/the-expert-of-subtle-revisions\/the-expert-of-subtle-revisions-is-available-for-preorder-2\/\">preorder<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The language we use to describe history is a choice. In THE EXPERT OF SUBTLE REVISIONS, the changes Hase makes when she edits Wikipedia\u2014replacing \u201ckilled\u201d with \u201cmurdered\u201d, \u201criot\u201d with \u201cprotest\u201d, \u201cshe was beaten\u201d with \u201che beat her\u201d\u2014are examples of how seemingly small changes can shift the meaning of a sentence, and subsequently a reader\u2019s understanding.&nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-expert-of-subtle-revisions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Language, too, is never neutral -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kirstenmengeranderson.com\/blog\/the-expert-of-subtle-revisions\/language-too-is-never-neutral\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Language, too, is never neutral -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The language we use to describe history is a choice. 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