How Thought-Terminating Clichés Serve Empire, Not Healing
Analyzing language as a structure of control and distraction
Language as a Structure of Control, Distraction, and Supremacy
Words shape worlds…
Words shape worlds.
Words
shape
worlds.
And the words we use when we’re uncomfortable, uncertain, or unwilling… those shape EMPIRES
Empires don’t just use guns and borders.
They use scripts.
They use clichés.
Because if they can control your language, they don’t have to control your life:
you’ll do it for them.
Because empires aren’t built only with bullets and borders.
They’re built with scripts.
They’re built with clichés that feel familiar, safe, even sacred.
And they’re built with biblical blueprints that we’ve all been exposed to, whether we identify as Christian or not.
Because supremacy culture isn’t just about governance. It’s about dominance, and Christianization was the first colonization. It baptized conquest in the name of God, and used scripture to sanctify silence.
And they’ve been doing it for a long, long time.
From the very beginning of the colonial Christian Bible, we’re told that speaking is power:
Let’s talk about it.
“In the Beginning Was the Word…”
The very first verses of the colonial Christian Bible begin not with a sword, but with speech:
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3)
Creation didn’t come from force.
It came from speech.
And later:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
The act of speaking is framed not just as divine, but as creative.
The Word doesn’t describe reality. The Word creates it.
This is more than a metaphor. It’s theology as colonization.
The first act of divine power was to speak a world into being.
The first act of empire is to speak over the worlds that already existed.
This is why supremacy culture doesn’t just need laws or violence,
it needs language that sounds holy while hiding harm.
And Empire understood this. That’s why it doesn’t just regulate your body, it regulates your language. Because if it can script your speech, you’ll police your own behavior. You’ll repeat oppression without even being asked.
Language as a Tool of Control — And a Mirror of Power
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21)
These words were meant as wisdom, but under supremacy, they became a warning:
Speak truth, and risk death.
Raise your voice, and risk exile.
Name injustice, and risk being framed as “divisive.”
If life and death are in the tongue, then every phrase, especially the convenient ones, is a kind of spiritual legislation.
And empire has long known this.
What began as a sacred invitation became a doctrine of suppression.
Silence as Scripture
Consider:
“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection… I suffer not a woman to teach.” (1 Timothy 2:11–12)
“The tongue is a fire… a world of iniquity.” (James 3:5–6)
“Let your speech always be with grace…” (Colossians 4:6)
These verses have been used not just to preach humility, but to enforce obedience, to shame emotion, to tone-police, and to make silence sound holy.
So what happens when you speak in your full, embodied, emotional, disruptive truth?
You’re called dangerous. Rebellious. Unprofessional. Too much.
And what happens when you stay silent?
You’re rewarded with peace that isn’t real,
comfort that isn’t mutual,
and a system that still extracts from you while praising your “grace.”
But here’s the truth:
Silence is not always sacred. Sometimes it’s social control in scripture’s clothing.
But the Prophets Spoke Fire
“Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth… See, I have set thee over the nations… to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy… to build, and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:9–10)
That’s not politeness. That’s prophetic disruption.
The prophets weren’t polite. They were disruptive. Destructive. Divine.
That’s the kind of speech empire actually fears: not loud speech, but clear speech.
Because clear speech disrupts confusion. It clarifies harm. And it refuses to perform “peace” while people are still in chains.
You don’t build liberation with sweet words. You start by burning down the lie that you ever needed permission to speak.
The Real Danger: Empire Doesn’t Fear Emotion — It Fears Articulation
“Empire doesn’t fear your rage. It fears your clarity.”
That’s why we were taught to tame our tongues.
To speak only when spoken to.
To season every truth with sugar, until it was palatable to the powerful.
That’s why phrases like:
“Let’s agree to disagree.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“We’re all just doing our best.”
…aren’t neutral.
They are linguistic rituals of empire, cloaked in spirituality, and designed to pacify truth-telling.
Liberation Begins Where Silence Was Mandated
Even silence has its scripture.
“Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.” (Amos 5:13)
Yes, sometimes silence is survival. (survival from what?)
But more often in supremacy culture, silence is surrender disguised as maturity.
We aren’t called to be quiet.
We are called to be conscious.
And consciousness requires language that names power, honors pain, and tells the truth; even when it trembles.
So when we say:
“Let there be light,”
Let us also mean:
Let there be clarity.
Let there be honesty.
Let there be reckoning.
Let there be words that build the world as it should be.
From Biblical to Liberatory Speech
Let’s be clear:
The Bible was one of the first tools of colonization.
Language was the first weapon.
And clichés are the modern-day scriptures of control.
But if the oppressor’s language is a leash,
then liberation language is a key.
And the act of reclaiming your words, unlearning clichés, confronting tone policing, rejecting politeness when it protects harm; that’s not rebellion.
That’s resurrecting your right to speak worlds into being.
Just like they told you only God could do, but if you are made in his image…
YOU
are
divine
too.
You’ve reached the edge of the script.
This is where we stop repeating what was given to us… and start reclaiming what we were meant to speak.
To go deeper into:
The unlearning process for internalized empire language
Liberation Language practices for your home, self, and work
Reflection prompts to shift how you speak and how you show up
The full Practice Your Praxis guide to embody this shift
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Because your voice is not too much.
It’s exactly what this world has been waiting for.