The Human Condition: The definite article

By Daniel Schnee on February 1, 2023.

Whether one believes it exists or not, debates over ‘wokeness’ are still ongoing, with a great number of perspectives on both sides. But whatever opinion one has on any issue it is in the arena of language that we are battling, and an interesting skirmish recently took place between the news organization known as The Associated Press, and various people on Twitter.

The AP’s Stylebook Twitter account – which offers guidelines on reportage – recently commented on usage of the word “the,” suggesting it be avoided in many cases in order to not “dehumanize” people.

It states they 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.”

While I was amused by the idea that being called the French was “dehumanizing,” or that an organization called “The” Associated Press was inadvertently dehumanizing themselves, the AP has almost by accident made a good point. How is that so?

As a person with bipolar disorder who is also college educated and has some French ancestry I am three of the AP’s listed dehumanizable categories; can be described as lacking positive human qualities in at least three different ways. Racists and bigots tend to describe groups of people monolithically, as if all African-Americans are one completely identical group whose common denominator is any negative quality ascribed to them. Thus, in order to describe all African-Americans as bad they use “the,” which in grammar is known as a definite article.

For example, “a cat” is not specific enough in many instances, so in order to learn which cat we are discussing we use “the cat” plus a description of that specific cat’s relevance to the conversation, what we already know: it is the cat that ate our sandwich, the cat that is sleeping on the couch, etc.

In the same manner “African-Americans are nice” is a general term, so to be specific “the African-Americans are nice” implies it is known that all of them are always nice, all of the time, with no deviation.

The grammar of “the” usage is certainly not problematic in and of itself… but almost inevitably when we hear discussion of “the Jews,” for example, it is in context of what follows, any and all negative traits. Thus what the AP is trying to alert the writer to is what “the” is so often used in context of: racism, sexism, ableism and so on. If a single French person is perceived to have a flaw, “the” makes a singular, negative essence of all French-ness. This is also revealed in the phrase that he or she is “one of the good ones”, i.e. there is at least one good person out of the others, who remain as bad as always.

So inasmuch as I am bipolar, college educated and slightly French, The Associated Press is incorrect about my being dehumanized by putting a “the” in front of these descriptors. But “the” can be dehumanizing in the wrong mind. “The” begins in the heart of both saints and sinners… and it is up to us to decide which we are going to be.

Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist and jazz/rock drummer

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