Language Isn’t Neutral. But Reality Isn’t Optional.

There was a time when noticing that language carried power felt like revelation.

We began to see how phrasing could steer perception, how passive voice could hide harm, how polished speech could obscure responsibility.

It was a necessary awakening. We had mistaken civility for truth, and correctness for justice.

But somewhere along the way, the insight mutated.

From: Language shapes thought.

To: Language creates reality.

To: There is no reality beyond language.

And that final leap—often unspoken, but deeply embedded in our cultural and academic institutions—is where everything began to destabilize.

What Was True

It is true that language encodes bias.

It reflects power structures.

It reinforces norms.

It limits what can be said, and sometimes, what can even be thought.

To recognize this is to become a better observer of the systems we live in.

But recognizing the distortions within language doesn’t mean that nothing is true.

It means that truth can be harder to see—not that it ceases to exist.

Where We Went Wrong

When we decided that all knowledge is constructed, we removed the ground beneath our feet.

No longer could we say:

• “This is happening.”
• “This system is harming people.”
• “This result is replicable.”

We could only say:

• “In my experience…”
• “According to this narrative…”
• “As seen through this lens…”

And that shift didn’t lead to liberation. It led to epistemic paralysis.

The Rise of Perception-Based Authority

If all truth is relative, then power belongs to the loudest speaker, the most compelling victim, the most affirmed identity.

Disagreement becomes violence.

Feedback becomes betrayal.

Logic becomes oppressive.

Institutions began to reflect this.

• Scholarship became performance.
• Thought leadership became branding.
• Leadership itself became emotional navigation—relying on “feeling aligned” rather than being correct.

And meanwhile, the world continued on—real, measurable, unbothered by whether we noticed it or not.

Reality Was Never Optional

It’s true that language mediates our understanding of the world.

But it doesn’t erase the world.

Gravity still works, regardless of our metaphors for it.

Bodies still break, regardless of how we narrate injury.

Systems still exploit, regardless of how gently we describe them.

Language matters because it helps us find truth.

But language is not the truth.

It is a lens. A tool. A map.

And discarding the map because it isn’t perfect does not make the terrain disappear.

What We Need to Restore

We need to separate:

• The limitations of our expression
• From the existence of what is being expressed.

We need to relearn that:

• Truth can be pursued, even if imperfectly.
• Observation can be flawed, yet still meaningful.
• Clarity does not require certainty, but it does require discipline.

We are allowed to say, “This is happening”—even if the words we use to name it carry bias. Not so that we carry bias, but so that we may strip it away.

We must recover this courage.