In a republic, language should enlighten rather than entrap. It should clarify, not obscure. It should be the bridge between citizen and truth, between promise and accountability. But the bridge has fractured. The words that once empowered us, words like justice, equality, fairness, and transparency, have been repurposed into slogans that serve the powerful, not the people.
The Broken Dictionary exists to document that betrayal. In this second volume we examine four arenas where language has been weaponized: liberal talking points, elections, the media, and the justice system. Each section unmasks euphemism, reveals doublespeak, and exposes how noble words have been hollowed out to preserve institutions that bend toward power instead of principle.
This book is not just a list of definitions. It is a guide for citizens who know that slogans without substance lead to submission. Consent cannot survive when words are repurposed as weapons. Liberty requires that we strip the mask from the language of control and reclaim meaning for ourselves.
The Media
The shadow industry of narrative creation. Breaking news breeds panic, fact-checking polices thought, and independent journalism often disguises advocacy. In a healthy republic, the press restrains power. Today it flatters it.
Breaking News
The crisis of the hour, whether it exists or not.
Commentary: The perpetual state of “breaking news” is not meant to enlighten citizens but to keep them anxious, distracted, and dependent. Every headline is a fire alarm, and when people live in a constant state of alarm, they surrender liberty for comfort. Manufactured urgency is the death of sober judgment, and liberty cannot survive in a society addicted to panic.
BuzzFeed Journalism
Clickbait pretending to be news.
Commentary: The line between information and entertainment has collapsed, and with it the seriousness of the citizen’s role. When news is reduced to lists, memes, and outrage, it conditions a people to treat politics like celebrity gossip. Liberty depends on a serious, informed citizenry; clickbait breeds a frivolous, distracted mob.
Community Standard
Rules written by monopolies to police dissent.
Commentary: These “standards” are never voted on, yet they govern speech more tightly than any law. Platforms decide what may be said, which ideas may circulate, and who is silenced. The result is not a community but a colony, ruled without consent. Liberty shrinks when unelected corporations dictate the boundaries of thought.
Content Moderation
Censorship with a friendly smile.
Commentary: The term sanitizes what is really ideological filtering. It hides the fact that power is deciding what truth you may hear. Moderation is the velvet glove over the iron fist of control, and liberty withers when citizens can only speak inside approved boundaries.
Courageous Journalism
Reporters repeating the approved script.
Commentary: Reporters are called “brave” when they attack powerless dissidents, never when they challenge entrenched authority. Courage is measured not by risk but by applause. Real courage tells truth when it costs dearly; counterfeit courage panders for likes. A people who cannot distinguish the two will soon lose both courage and liberty.
Debunked
A story inconvenient to the narrative.
Commentary: “Debunked” is now a weapon, not a verdict. The label ends inquiry instead of beginning it. No evidence is needed, only a declaration by the self-appointed referees of reality. Liberty requires open debate, but debunking is designed to criminalize debate itself.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
The motto of papers that sell blackout curtains.
Commentary: Media corporations boast about defending democracy while burying stories that matter, spiking investigations, and branding dissent as heresy. They claim to shine light but wield darkness as their business model. Liberty does not need guardians who manage the shadows; it needs citizens who see clearly, even when elites would rather they did not.
Disinformation Expert
An activist with a paycheck.
Commentary: These figures masquerade as neutral referees but operate as political enforcers. Their job is not to clarify but to delegitimize. Once the “expert” labels your words as disinformation, debate is over, your credibility is destroyed, and liberty is one step closer to censorship.
Documented Sources
Anonymous whispers that fit the script.
Commentary: Sources are invoked without verification, documents are cited without release, and yet the story still runs. Anonymous authority is the coin of the realm. In a republic, citizens are entitled to proof; in a propaganda state, they are told to trust the whispers.
Editorial Independence
Independence from the people, not from power.
Commentary: Media claim independence from outside influence, but in reality they are bound to advertisers, donors, and political patrons. Independence is invoked only to insulate them from accountability to citizens. Liberty requires press independence from government, not from scrutiny.
Fact-Checking
Narrative enforcement with a smug headline.
Commentary: Fact-checking is presented as a service to truth but functions as a shield for power. It reduces truth to a verdict — true, false, mostly false — without context or evidence. Once branded false, an idea is erased. Liberty cannot coexist with a system where truth is decreed, not discovered.
Fake News
Real stories the establishment doesn’t want covered.
Commentary: The term began as a critique of propaganda but was swiftly hijacked into a bludgeon. Anything inconvenient to the regime is “fake,” no matter how much evidence supports it. Liberty relies on a free press, but a free press dies when truth itself is treated as contraband.
Hard-Hitting Interview
Softballs with pre-approved answers.
Commentary: Journalists boast of accountability while rehearsing their questions with the powerful. The “hard hit” is carefully scripted to wound no one important. Liberty needs watchdogs who bare their teeth; instead, it gets lapdogs who purr on command.
Independent Media
Funded by the same donors, just wearing different logos.
Commentary: Outlets advertise independence from government and corporations, but the money always tells the truth. Whether it comes from foundations, think tanks, or international NGOs, the funding ensures alignment with the regime. Independence is a costume; liberty demands honesty about influence.
Journalistic Ethics
An ever-shifting code of double standards.
Commentary: Ethics are cited when it’s useful to restrain competitors, never when it would restrain insiders. Reporters decry bias, but only when it favors the other side. Liberty requires an ethic of truth; instead, we get an ethic of expedience.
Journalist of the Year
Whoever best advanced the regime.
Commentary: Awards are the media’s loyalty oath. The winner is not the most truthful, but the most useful. They are celebrated for reinforcing the approved narrative, never for exposing corruption. Liberty cannot rely on award-winners when truth-tellers are exiled.
Mainstream Media
The current carries only one way.
Commentary: The “mainstream” implies neutrality, but it is really a current flowing in one ideological direction. Dissenters are cast adrift or drowned. Liberty flourishes in many currents, not one.
Media Accountability
Correction after the damage is done.
Commentary: Lies lead the front page, and corrections, if they come, whisper in the back. The damage is irreversible, but the ritual of correction allows the media to pose as responsible. Liberty cannot endure when the institutions that shape perception face no consequence for deliberate falsehood.
Media Literacy
Training citizens to trust the regime’s outlets.
Commentary: Literacy once meant critical thinking. Now it means obedience to “trusted” sources. Students are taught to dismiss dissent, not to evaluate claims. Liberty requires citizens who can challenge authority; media literacy teaches them only to bow.
Misinformation
Any fact inconvenient to the agenda.
Commentary: Misinformation is the new blasphemy. It is not corrected, it is erased. Citizens are branded heretics for speaking truths out of season. Liberty dies when the boundary between truth and error is not evidence but decree.
Neutral Reporting
Silence about corruption, noise about trivia.
Commentary: Neutrality has been twisted into complicity. Reporters claim objectivity by refusing to cover real scandals while distracting citizens with stories of no consequence. Liberty requires shining light where it is most uncomfortable, not where it is most convenient.
Objective Journalism
A myth paraded to mask bias.
Commentary: Objectivity has been abandoned, but the myth lingers for credibility. Reporters confess bias only when it flatters their side, while condemning others for less. Liberty demands honesty, but objectivity has become a hollow mask for manipulation.
Opinion Columnist
A partisan with better pay.
Commentary: Opinion sections once hosted debate; now they host enforcement. Every “opinion” marches in the same ideological direction. Liberty withers when diversity of thought is exiled from the very pages meant to foster it.
Trusted Source
Whatever the government says today.
Commentary: Trust is demanded, not earned. Sources are labeled trustworthy not because they’ve proven accurate, but because they repeat the official line. Liberty requires earned trust through evidence; state-certified trust is tyranny’s tool.
Watchdog Journalism
The guard dog that bites only the powerless.
Commentary: The press brags of holding the powerful accountable but trains its teeth on dissenting citizens. They bark loudest at the weak while licking the hands of those in power. Liberty cannot survive under watchdogs that have been housebroken.