Polls show riots reduce support for Harris/Biden, so AP has a fix: tells journalists not to call riots "riots."

One of the most powerful tools used by revolutionaries and dictators is to try to conrol what words people are allowed to use.  For example, the Associated Press has dictated--yes, dictated--that when a person claims to be a member of the opposite sex, any news article must refer to that person using pronouns applying to the imagined gender.

Coming off that "success," the AP is now dictating that if a mob burns hundreds of businesses and loots hundreds of other businesses, and the mob claims to be supporting "marginalized people," newspapers should NOT call the criminal outrage a "riot."  New guidance on AP Stylebook Online: 

Use care in deciding which term ["riot" or the far more soothing "unrest"] best applies:  A riot is a wild or violent disturbance of the peace involving a group of people. The term riot suggests uncontrolled chaos and pandemonium.

Focusing on rioting and property destruction rather than underlying grievance has been used in the past to stigmatize broad swaths of people protesting against lynching, police brutality or for racial justice, going back to the urban uprisings of the 1960s.

Didja get that, citizen?  When a mob riots, AP is warning all "good" journos NOT to "focus" on rioting and property destruction--in other words, not to call a riot a riot.  Cuz that might reduce Americans' support for favored groups.  So what word does the AP approve instead?

Unrest is a vaguer, milder and less emotional term for a condition of angry discontent and protest verging on revolt.

Protest and demonstration refer to specific actions such as marches, sit-ins, rallies or other actions meant to register dissent. They can be legal or illegal, organized or spontaneous, peaceful or violent, and involve any number of people. 

So according to the Associated Press, even violent riots are to be referred to as "protests" or "demonstrations."

Cuz if no one is allowed to CALL it a riot, there aren't any riots, eh?  Is that cool or what?