Does Ayanna Pressley really mean this?

I think she said “centering,” not “censoring.” The phrase “centering the American people” is one she uses a lot.

Possibly I guess, but it sounds amazingly like “Censoring”. I hear two “s” sounds, not one and a “t” sound.

Doctored audio by the republican deep state, bro.

Wake up, sheep!

For whatever it’s worth, the transcript also says “centering.” I doubt the audio is doctored. She just said it weird. My pastor at the church I grew up in said “erection” instead of “resurrection” two different times several years apart, but everyone knew what he meant and I don’t think anyone gave him trouble over it. Talking is hard sometimes, even for people who do it as part of their profession.

@Zounderkite The problem with that interpretation is the whole sentence. How can you center people to advance progress? The progressive people are the far left side. It seems odd. Combine that with censoring being exactly what the Dems were doing to advance their policies and narratives and it seems that “censor” was the word that was said. The fact that her people changed it in the transcript doesn’t mean that is what she meant.

I think she said “centering” but still it’s a stupid platitude.

@seawulf575 You are misinterpreting the phrase. “Centering people to advance progress” means putting the needs of people (working and middle class) first in order to advance progress. You might or might not like the terminology but that is what is meant. Nothing really to do with left and right in that term.

Please just accept for once that you may have been wrong. It would be refreshing.

@janbb One thing for certain maga people can NEVER ,NEVER,NEVER admit they were wrong about anything, doing so in their minds shows weakness, better to die on the lie then admit they might have been mistaken and learn from it.

How janbb said it is how I took it. Centering as in finding common ground and putting what people need first. I took centering literally? I don’t know. I agree it seems odd phrasing but I understood what was meant.

@janbb That is possible. But listen to the video. She didn’t say “center”.

The group “Libs of TikTok” would probably like it to be “censor” rather than “center” because “censor” goes with their sensationalist and inflamatory narrative.

Did anybody ask her what she actually said, or is everyone just guessing? It seems the best way to find out what she said, since it’s not totally clear, would be to ask her.

I don’t think it makes sense to focus on the sounds she made if we know what she meant. This is one of those obnoxious things about politics. Remember when George W. Bush said “there’s an enemy that would like attack America, and I wish him all the best”? How about when he said “they never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we”? He was mocked for it—probably more than he deserved—but no one pretended that it was some Freudian slip and he secretly meant it.

Then something changed and we started treating all of these statements seriously instead of as funny little flubs. “You didn’t build that” was about public roads and bridges, “truth isn’t truth” was about how people disagree over what is true. While the grammar in these statements might have been somewhat confusing, it was obvious what they meant. But instead of laughing, people treated it seriously.

“We finally beat Medicare” was bad because it was just one more in a series of flubs that showed us Biden was declining. But it would be ludicrous to suggest that we really beat Medicare or that he wanted to. Same thing here. Maybe she made an ambiguous sound (I can hear the clip both ways) or maybe she made an “s” sound instead of a “t” sound (or a sound that some people can only hear one way). But we know what she meant, and if we don’t, it’s easy to find out. Laugh at the misstep if you want. That’s totally fair. But pretending she meant it is neither fair nor honest.

“centering” sounds jargon’y. That makes it easy to misinterpret. Should just use simple words, then Trumpies will be able to clearly understand too.

@seawulf575 She said “Centering” Sorry, nice try.

Also, Watch the whole thing and not just some small portion to take out of context with something that someone wants people to believe was different..

@Forever_Free I listened to your citation. The whole thing. It is mainly bogus talking points and at about 4:35 came the same cut I had. She still says “censoring. It is very plain to me. She may not have MEANT to say that, but that is what she said.

@seawulf575 You heard “censoring” the first time because that’s what you were primed to hear, and you continue to hear it because that’s what you want to hear. It’s called confirmation bias. I also find it interesting that you titled this question “Does Ayanna Pressley really mean this?” but stopped caring about what she meant and started focusing on how it sounds (to you) as soon as it was pointed out that no, she doesn’t really mean what you thought.

@Irukandji I hear “censoring” because she said “censoring”. It may not have been what she meant, she may have meant “centering” as many have said, but I’m sorry…I know the difference between a hard “T” sound and a sibilant “S” sound.

But I can also turn that around. None of you really care what she said, only what she wants you to say she means. Some of you only claim to hear it that way because she primed you to believe she said it.

Since it seems that nobody is really positive, I go back to, did anybody think to ask her to please clarify what she said since it wasn’t clear? That would surely beat guessing and accusing others of not hearing what they think they heard.

@jca2 Actually we all answered the question about what Pressley meant; there is only one person still questioning it.

@janbb I get it but maybe if the question were asked of her, she would clarify and there would be no more dilemma.

There is only a dilemma because wulfie created one.

I agree @chyna how many times has his hero slurd a word or said a gaff and he defends him to the death.
This woman mispronounces a word and he is all over it and won’t believe the actual transcript but when he throws a transcript in our face we are supposed to accept it without question.

@seawulf575 No, I heard “censoring” because I was also primed to hear it that way. After reading some of the comments here, I went back and listened again and was able to hear “centering.” The point is you aren’t willing to give it a try because you don’t want it to be true.

And again, I will point out that your question was whether she really meant this. It wasn’t until after people pointed out what she meant that it suddenly became so important to you what noise she made. It’s an attempt to dig in your heels now that you know the spin is false.

@Irukandji There are some that are answering that she meant “centering” even though it makes no sense. And that’s cool. But there are others telling me she said “centering” and I know what I heard. And I’ve even gone back to try hearing centering and I cannot hear it.

@seawulf575 I know you always have to have the last word but “centering” is a term fairly commonly used if certain religious, political and academic circles which is probably why you are unable to understand it. It makes perfect sense in this usage when you are familiar with the term.

This is her YouTube channel and here is the link to the video. You can put on closed captioning by clicking cc on the bottom. That spells out every word she’s saying. I haven’t listened to it with the closed captions on because I don’t have time now, but this should end the debate.

I know someone linked this video above but I don’t believe anyone on this thread suggested closed captions to end the endless debate about she said this, no she didn’t, she said that, no she didn’t.

Since it’s from her YT channel, there’s no interference from anybody doctoring the video or the sound.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC_fL-nUSVw

@seawulf575 Can you explain why you think that “centering” makes no sense? You seemed to understand it when you responded to me and later when you responded to @janbb. As for what you heard, I don’t know. I heard “centering,” you heard “censoring,” and some have said they can hear both. I believe you when you say that’s what you heard. But can you explain to me why it matters that she might have misspoken given that we know her intention? I’m just not understanding what you think is so important here.

@Zounderkite Centering makes no sense for the same reasons I said before. Ayanna Pressley is not known for being centrist on anything. She is part of the Squad…the radical left of the Dem party. So for her to say that they are willing to work with anyone that is willing to “Center” the American People goes entirely against her entire political career. She, along with her cohorts, have always preached about “progress” for the country, but they are always talking about things that nobody likes because they are too radically to the left. I listened to the entire speech as presented by @Forever_Free. Nothing there was about “centering” except, supposedly, this one word. The rest was about how horrible Trump and Musk were, how they were looking to steal from the tax payers to enrich themselves, etc. So it isn’t even a matter of context. Centering the American People makes no sense at that point. CENSORING them to progress the country is something that the left has already tried so it might make more sense coming from Pressley.

“Centering” by definition implies going to the middle of something. Centering the candle on the end table, centering the gazebo in the yard, etc. In politics, which is what she was talking about, “centering” means moving to a more moderate position on policies. That is not something she has EVER mentioned before.

I actually just listened to it from her YT channel and with the cc on, and according to the cc, it’s “censoring” not “centering.” Listen with the cc on around 4:40 in, on the link I provided above, which is her channel.

^Maybe she misspoke. I don’t understand why it’s a big deal.

@chyna I’ve been saying since the beginning that someone should ask her, since it seems to be a big debate here (not that any of us can ask her but the easy answer would be if someone asked her, it would end the debate). I’m just weighing in on what I found out by reading the captions. That’s all. Apparently the people who thought it was “centering” were incorrect.

I thought it was “centering” too. I’m ok admitting I was wrong. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.

@jca2 So now that you agree it was “censoring”, how do we address all those that just wanted to tell me I was hearing things? I asked the question because it seems very radical, even for Pressley. And the use of “centering” still does not make sense. And BTW, I appreciate you owning the error. There is one other thing that adds confusion. The “transcript” of that video uses “centering”. But that is written after the fact. Someone probably said “Whoa! We can’t be saying that! What sounds close to “censoring”??”

@chyna I asked the question originally because it could be a big deal. If a politician is openly saying they want to censor the American People, that is a huge deal.

Wulfie, and I hope you can answer this honestly,would you be this upset if it was one of your frightwing heros have said it?
Then if they came back and said uh no it was centering sorry for the confusion, would you have accepted that explanation?

I think someone should have asked her to clarify, so I agree with @jca2 on that.

I also agree that centering is jargon if it needs to be explained over and over again. @RocketGuy brought up jargon first, and I’m agreeing with this viewpoint. Using terms that only a segment of the population is familiar with is not a good way to communicate with the masses. If someone does use a word like centering, they should explain what it means during the speech so as they continue to use the term it will be understood.

CC can be incorrect also, I see it happen. Has anyone asked her directly what she said and what she meant?

@JLeslie Close captioning can definitely be incorrect, but I would think on her own YT channel, she or her staff has gone through it to make sure that was the captions picked up is what she said.

@seawulf575 There are some on this thread that are referring to what she meant (as the question was asked what did she mean) and some are referring to what she said. I am referencing what she said, because that’s black and white. I know that some may not want to hear that she said “censoring” but according to the transcript on her YT channel, she said “censoring.” I know some here may not return to this thread because that pisses them off, and that’s their right, but to me, right is right and what is on the channel is what she said. As for what she meant, I have no clue.

What annoys me now is that YouTube is going to be sending me her stuff, because I searched for it, but I really am not at all interested in hearing YouTube tell me about her after tonight.

Go watch the whole thing as I posted so you get her context. Slow the audio speed down when you get the statement in question. She stated Centering.
Only one person is still trolling this which was why the person posted it.

@SQUEEKY2 Censoring is not good, no matter who wants to do it. Plain and simple. If Trump had said “I’m willing to work with anyone that really wants to censor the American People” that would highly concern me. The part you are missing is that it is the “fright-wingers” as you call them that are calling out the censorship and wanting to put a stop to it.

Wanting to censor people, to me, is right up there with spying on them…something our government does too. It was codified by the Patriot Act. You know, the one Dubbya pushed for?

On her facebook page she posted: It’s #BlackHistoryMonth and Republicans want to censor our history and ignore the systemic oppression of Black folks.

But Black history is American history, and no amount of white-washing or erasure will change that.

@JLeslie That is totally irrelevant to the statement we are discussing.

It started to annoy me that the video is a very specific clip from a speech, so I finally watched the whole speech. I think using centering or censoring is weird either way. If she meant centering why not use a more common widely understood term? The Democrats continue to not understand the concept of communicating with the masses. It’s like they never took speech class in high school.

@janbb Just was wondering how loosely or how she has previously used the word censor.

@JLeslie How is it that a single person can even try to speak to the masses? This is not a political issue here and meaningless to the OP. There are almost 350 Million US citizens spread over nearly 4 million square miles. One person cannot speak to those masses. This is the concept behind Federal, State, Local government.
Centering is perfectly perfect word to use in her speech. Prioritizing human needs, empowering people to make influential change in their community or group rather than individuals is a perfect choice of words.

@seawulf575 “And I’ve even gone back to try hearing centering and I cannot hear it.”

Yeah, that’s a you problem. I totally understand why someone would hear “censoring,” but it wasn’t that hard for me to go back and hear “centering.” I understand that you won’t take my word for it. You and I are both pugilistic curmudgeons who don’t work that way. But it’s a little weird that you can’t extend a little more trust to some of the other people telling you the same thing.

@jca2 YouTube captions are auto-generated by machine learning algorithms. It even says that when you click the CC button or go turn them in the settings tab, so I’m not sure how you missed it. Pressley’s office did not create them, nor are they able to change them. And if you watch the video the whole way through, their are numerous other typos as well. If you want the official transcript, it's available on Pressley’s House page right here (it says "centering").

Look, the original question was not “Did Ayanna Pressley say censoring?” or “Did Ayanna Pressley say this word weird?” It was “Does Ayanna Pressley really mean this?” The answer to that question is very clearly “no.” Everyone seems to agree that she said the word unclearly. No one is being blamed for hearing “censoring” the first time they listened to it. But even if you can’t hear “centering” no matter how many times you listen, we still know that’s not what she meant. Hell, even if we conclude “yeah, she totally said censoring” we know it was a mistake.

@Forever_Free Speaking at a high school level. The people with PhD’s can understand common every day language.

Everyone uses the word focusing, not everyone uses centering.

@seawulf575 Like @janbb already explained, and as you seemed to understand at the time, “centering” is not about being centrist. When you center something, you make it a focus or priority. You put it at the center of your thinking or decision making process. So in context, “centering the American people” is about putting the needs and perspectives of average Americans first when making policy decisions.

It’s very common rhetoric, especially among progressives. You can disagree with the rhetoric or think it’s not genuine, but that’s not the same as saying it makes no sense or is never said. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, Pressley uses this term a lot. Here are a few examples (partial quotes, links to full sources):

WGBH News: U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley urged the Special Committee on Redistricting on Monday to “keep as much of the 7th together as possible,” highlighting the shared challenges of the communities she represents and the importance of “centering racial and economic diversity.”

And two paragraphs later: “I am confident that using the same principles that were top of mind when these boundaries were drawn 10 years ago, centering racial and economic diversity of the Massachusetts 7th and keeping municipalities whole where possible will guide these difficult conversations,” Pressley said.

Facebook: “We can’t solve the hunger crisis in America without centering the voices of those most impacted.”

Twitter: “Centering the people always. 118th, let’s go.”

Twitter: “We can’t do the work of Black liberation without centering Black joy & Black resistance.”

Twitter: “Centering the voices of those most impacted is essential to our Work to end the public health crisis of gun violence.”

Instagram: “We can’t confront the climate crisis without centering our youth.”

House.gov: During Netanyahu’s Address, Pressley Centers Families Impacted by Horrific War

The Dorchester Reporter: “They have not been centering the people and this is a systemic crisis, the pushout crisis, and we have to end it,” said Pressley.

And that was just the first page of my Google search. Does that make the meaning any clearer or at least convince you that it’s a phrase she uses often (honest questions)?

@Irukandji I am very much a Libra. I believe in facts and balance. So someone tells me they hear “centering”, I want to go back to see if it is a possibility. I heard “censoring” the first time I saw the clip (as did lots and lots of people). So I even considered that LibsOfTikTok had somehow edited it. But then @Forever_Free gave us the full speech right from Ayanna Pressley’s web site. They would not edit it to sound like “censoring”. And what did I find? It still sounds like “Censoring”. I played it back repeatedly trying to hear a “t” sound and it isn’t there. This isn’t me just trying to be right, this is me telling you that I have tried to hear “centering” even if that word makes no sense in that speech. I have not been able to. Is it possible that you went back wanting to hear “centering” and so you convinced yourself?

@seawulf575 The t sound is there. I can’t speak to your ability to hear what was there versus hearing what you wanted to hear.
I am also sorry that you don’t understand the distinction that most other here understand.

@Zounderkite Good research. Thanks.

@seawulf575 Like I said, I knew you wouldn’t take my word for it. I was suggesting you consider some of the other people telling you what they heard—the ones who aren’t pugilistic curmudgeons like you and me.

I’m not saying it’s easy to hear, and I’m not saying it doesn’t still sound off. It’s clear that she messed up the word even if you can hear her attempt at a “t” in there. But if I try, I can definitely hear that she tries to say “centering.”

Maybe your hearing has deteriorated with age. Maybe you were too busy telling me “I’m rubber, you’re glue” to pay attention. But it doesn’t really matter. You asked if she really means this, and the answer is obviously “no.” Do you at least accept that much?

@Irukandji Obviously after people started really questioning it (or after her more sane staff realized what she said) the story was that she didn’t mean it. You admit that “centering” was very odd at that point in the conversation. Why can’t you see that maybe you were wrong on that?

@seawulf575 She clearly meant it. Why do you think differently. Just because you are willing it that way. It’s a dead non-issue. We know why you posted it.

@seawulf575 “Obviously after people started really questioning it (or after her more sane staff realized what she said) the story was that she didn’t mean it.”

The YouTube video and the transcript were posted at the same time. The transcript says “centering.” So this wasn’t some after the fact spin.

“You admit that “centering” was very odd at that point in the conversation.”

I said no such thing. The only thing I’ve said is that she messed up the pronunciation of the word, not that the word doesn’t make sense in context. As you’ve been more than adequately shown, “centering the American people” makes perfect sense as a phrase and is a very common thing for her to say.

I notice you didn’t answer my question, though: regardless of what sounds may or may not have come out of her mouth, do you at least accept that the answer to your question title is “no”?

@Irukandji Sure. And the transcript was written after the statement was made and before the video was posted. My view still holds.

^^ Take it to the ground. It’s a non issue.

@seawulf575 I believe you when you say that you can only hear “censoring,” and I don’t think it’s worth arguing over. I do wonder if, after the links I posted, you at least agree that she uses the word “centering” and phrases akin to “centering the American people” often?

@seawulf575 “Sure. And the transcript was written after the statement was made and before the video was posted. My view still holds.”

This makes no sense. Your original view was that the story became “she didn’t mean it” after people started questioning it. But if the transcript was written before the video was posted, then its wording can’t be in response to people questioning the video. That’s not how time works.

In any case, I notice that you keep dodging everyone’s questions. At this point, I think you know that the answer to your question is “no” and that she just pronounced a word poorly. You just can’t bring yourself to admit it to us despite how incredibly low the stakes are.

@Irukandji You agree that the transcript was written after the video was taken. It doesn’t matter if it was written before it posted. The transcript was likely corrected by her staff before they allowed the video to be posted. Damage control.

As for her meaning “centering” it is possible. It isn’t what she said, but it is possible it is what she meant. Centering isn’t much better, but it could have been what she meant.

@seawulf575 Let it go. You can have your selective hearing. She said centering. Case closed.

@Forever_Free I have let it go…several times. And yet, for some reason, your fellow lefty jellies can’t seem to do the same. Look at what you are doing. You are trying desperately to convince me. Let it go, if you think it is a non-issue. Stop challenging me. And certainly don’t think you can order me to do anything.