Social Justice out of control

[Worldtraveller]

I haven't heard the term 'social justice warriors' as a pejorative by the left but I have heard the term used by the left as a title of honor and, figuratively, as a call to arms.

Guns were being handed out in the autonomous zone and self appointed armed security patrolled.

With a few shootings resulting in two killed and several wounded.

Probably fewer than would be killed by cops in the same time frame. Baby steps.

 

[DrZoidberg]

That is a fair critique but a bit aside from the issue. It's still a positive step with largely no down-side. Not having done [y] isn't really a solid argument as to why not do an unrelated [x].

Language matters. It might not be trans-formative, but it matters.

To your point I can feasibly see this type of action being taken too far, but getting rid of the term 'blacklist' doesn't strike me as such an example. In this we'll probably have to agree to disagree.

The Saphir-Worff hypothesis was false. When they studied various languages they projected exotism and racist bullshit onto them. Yes, words matter. But human brains are sophisticated. Just removing a racist word doesn't lessen racism. Nobody becomes a racist from reading Mein Kampf, nor a Christian from reading the Bible. They exist in a larger context.

Nixon used welfare to break apart black communities and made them depend on government hand outs. To make them easier to control. He did this while claiming he was trying to help them. The actions matter more than the words

Because again, removing the words has nothing to do with lessening racism, and everything to do with it's impact on real people in everyday usage. It's the same reason we collectively stopped using the term 'mentally retarded'. I don't think anybody believed the term led to an increase in discrimination, but it does infer and imply a specific belief about the disabled, largely that they're 'not as good' as people without disabilities. We don't change the term to fundamentally change the world, we change it because there are better terms to use, and doing so isn't a big deal.

Similarly, I don't think anyone believes that Twitter changing a few words is going to seriously impact racism, because the point isn't to impact racism at all, it's to use more inclusive language.

You may have a point that there are more fundamental things we can do, but that in itself isn't a good reason not to use more inclusive language. It's an easy step to make, so why not make it.

Now you may disagree with me that these terms are problematic, and that's ok. But you're completely misinterpreting the point of taking this action.

Exactly. You put your finger on it. Instead of retarded we say mentally challenged. But everybody hears retarded when we say mentally challenged. It's a pointless exercise. It's virtue signalling. When you say "n-word" you are saying the word "nigger". It's the same information content. We've just decided one is OK and the other isn't.

This shit is everywhere in modern Western society and its intellectualy dishonest as well as retarding. Its an attempt to hide what we mean in plain sight. Just to confuse. In case the dumbest members of our community are ofended. But it's just a dumb excerise.

 

[rousseau]

Because again, removing the words has nothing to do with lessening racism, and everything to do with it's impact on real people in everyday usage. It's the same reason we collectively stopped using the term 'mentally retarded'. I don't think anybody believed the term led to an increase in discrimination, but it does infer and imply a specific belief about the disabled, largely that they're 'not as good' as people without disabilities. We don't change the term to fundamentally change the world, we change it because there are better terms to use, and doing so isn't a big deal.

Similarly, I don't think anyone believes that Twitter changing a few words is going to seriously impact racism, because the point isn't to impact racism at all, it's to use more inclusive language.

You may have a point that there are more fundamental things we can do, but that in itself isn't a good reason not to use more inclusive language. It's an easy step to make, so why not make it.

Now you may disagree with me that these terms are problematic, and that's ok. But you're completely misinterpreting the point of taking this action.

Exactly. You put your finger on it. Instead of retarded we say mentally challenged. But everybody hears retarded when we say mentally challenged. It's a pointless exercise. It's virtue signalling. When you say "n-word" you are saying the word "nigger". It's the same information content. We've just decided one is OK and the other isn't.

This shit is everywhere in modern Western society and its intellectualy dishonest as well as retarding. Its an attempt to hide what we mean in plain sight. Just to confuse. In case the dumbest members of our community are ofended. But it's just a dumb excerise.

Is that true? Everybody? How would we even begin to quantify that? And how do we know that these minor changes won't have major impacts on our social awareness in many decades, even centuries?

And even if the change has absolutely no impact, why not use a better term just because it's a better term?

 

[skepticalbip]

I haven't heard the term 'social justice warriors' as a pejorative by the left but I have heard the term used by the left as a title of honor and, figuratively, as a call to arms.

Guns were being handed out in the autonomous zone and self appointed armed security patrolled.

With a few shootings resulting in two killed and several wounded.

Probably fewer than would be killed by cops in the same time frame. Baby steps.

You don't seem to understand statistics. Even in war zones like Afghanistan, the killing rate was seven per hundred thousand population killed last year... That is a damn high killing rate. How many 'residents' do you think there are in the CHOP zone that the two deaths can be compared to? Maybe a couple hundred at most?

 

[Bomb#20]

Because again, removing the words has nothing to do with lessening racism, and everything to do with it's impact on real people in everyday usage. It's the same reason we collectively stopped using the term 'mentally retarded'. I don't think anybody believed the term led to an increase in discrimination, but it does infer and imply a specific belief about the disabled, largely that they're 'not as good' as people without disabilities. We don't change the term to fundamentally change the world, we change it because there are better terms to use, and doing so isn't a big deal.

But the whole point of adopting the term "retarded" in the first place, in preference to the old term "feeble minded", was that "retarded" was supposed to stop implying that they're not as good as people without disabilities, and lead to a decrease in discrimination. "Retarded" means "delayed". The message was precisely that they'd be just as good as people without disabilities if only the rest of us would give them the extra time they need. We're dropping the word now not because of what it implies but because of the negative connotations it has picked up over the last hundred-odd years as a result of being used to refer to mental disabilities.

This is how pejoratives typically work: people don't look down on the referent because of the disparaging word; it's a disparaging word because people look down on the referent. Hence the euphemism treadmill -- if we replace "retarded" with "challenged" then sooner or later there will be a campaign to stop calling people "challenged" because it will be perceived as insulting. Future activists will be disparaging the motives and small-mindedness of the benighted bigots of the past, and of the benighted bigots of the present who haven't come up to speed with the latest fashion, for being so careless of hurt feelings that they'd call their fellows "challenged". The euphemism treadmill may well be a good thing for society anyway -- changing a word every few decades is a small price to pay for making people not feel insulted -- but let's not kid ourselves that the new term is better than the old term. It's just different. And that's its purpose.

 

[rousseau]

Because again, removing the words has nothing to do with lessening racism, and everything to do with it's impact on real people in everyday usage. It's the same reason we collectively stopped using the term 'mentally retarded'. I don't think anybody believed the term led to an increase in discrimination, but it does infer and imply a specific belief about the disabled, largely that they're 'not as good' as people without disabilities. We don't change the term to fundamentally change the world, we change it because there are better terms to use, and doing so isn't a big deal.

But the whole point of adopting the term "retarded" in the first place, in preference to the old term "feeble minded", was that "retarded" was supposed to stop implying that they're not as good as people without disabilities, and lead to a decrease in discrimination. "Retarded" means "delayed". The message was precisely that they'd be just as good as people without disabilities if only the rest of us would give them the extra time they need. We're dropping the word now not because of what it implies but because of the negative connotations it has picked up over the last hundred-odd years as a result of being used to refer to mental disabilities.

This is how pejoratives typically work: people don't look down on the referent because of the disparaging word; it's a disparaging word because people look down on the referent. Hence the euphemism treadmill -- if we replace "retarded" with "challenged" then sooner or later there will be a campaign to stop calling people "challenged" because it will be perceived as insulting. Future activists will be disparaging the motives and small-mindedness of the benighted bigots of the past, and of the benighted bigots of the present who haven't come up to speed with the latest fashion, for being so careless of hurt feelings that they'd call their fellows "challenged". The euphemism treadmill may well be a good thing for society anyway -- changing a word every few decades is a small price to pay for making people not feel insulted -- but let's not kid ourselves that the new term is better than the old term. It's just different. And that's its purpose.

I don't know that this is the case. I'm not exactly sure what the vogue terms are now, but I don't think they're 'challenged'. The move away from 'retarded' is so that we don't frame the existence of those with disabilities in terms of how they are divergent from the 'normal' or 'proper' person who is more economically successful than them. This is the point of the evolution of language - we change it to work better for us. We want to phrase things differently than before because people even as close to us as the early twentieth century were dumb as nails, and we want to stop being like them.

To those of us who grew up with a specific term this can seem silly, but once you change the term and new people are born into it they start to think differently. I work on a university campus and I can tell you that the younger generation isn't like us. It might not be easy for us to see now as we sit in amber, but these subtle changes we're making will have profound impacts down the line.

 

[Copernicus]

Because again, removing the words has nothing to do with lessening racism, and everything to do with it's impact on real people in everyday usage. It's the same reason we collectively stopped using the term 'mentally retarded'. I don't think anybody believed the term led to an increase in discrimination, but it does infer and imply a specific belief about the disabled, largely that they're 'not as good' as people without disabilities. We don't change the term to fundamentally change the world, we change it because there are better terms to use, and doing so isn't a big deal.

But the whole point of adopting the term "retarded" in the first place, in preference to the old term "feeble minded", was that "retarded" was supposed to stop implying that they're not as good as people without disabilities, and lead to a decrease in discrimination. "Retarded" means "delayed". The message was precisely that they'd be just as good as people without disabilities if only the rest of us would give them the extra time they need. We're dropping the word now not because of what it implies but because of the negative connotations it has picked up over the last hundred-odd years as a result of being used to refer to mental disabilities.

This is how pejoratives typically work: people don't look down on the referent because of the disparaging word; it's a disparaging word because people look down on the referent. Hence the euphemism treadmill -- if we replace "retarded" with "challenged" then sooner or later there will be a campaign to stop calling people "challenged" because it will be perceived as insulting. Future activists will be disparaging the motives and small-mindedness of the benighted bigots of the past, and of the benighted bigots of the present who haven't come up to speed with the latest fashion, for being so careless of hurt feelings that they'd call their fellows "challenged". The euphemism treadmill may well be a good thing for society anyway -- changing a word every few decades is a small price to pay for making people not feel insulted -- but let's not kid ourselves that the new term is better than the old term. It's just different. And that's its purpose.

I don't know that this is the case. I'm not exactly sure what the vogue terms are now, but I don't think they're 'challenged'. The move away from 'retarded' is so that we don't frame the existence of those with disabilities in terms of how they are divergent from the 'normal' or 'proper' person who is more economically successful than them. This is the point of the evolution of language - we change it to work better for us. We want to phrase things differently than before because people even as close to us as the early twentieth century were dumb as nails, and we want to stop being like them.

To those of us who grew up with a specific term this can seem silly, but once you change the term and new people are born into it they start to think differently. I work on a university campus and I can tell you that the younger generation isn't like us. It might not be easy for us to see now as we sit in amber, but these subtle changes we're making will have profound impacts down the line.

I agree with both Bomb and rousseau, because I don't think that what they are saying is fundamentally at odds. Bomb has accurately described how euphemism works as a linguistic process. If attitudes don't change, then the less stigmatized word takes on the stigma of the earlier term. We see that in historical chains of word replacements. However, the attempt to replace a stigmatized word with a more neutral or positive sounding word is part of a normal process of negotiating word usage to achieve some sort of change in social attitudes towards the subject being named. So "Negro" became "colored" which became "black" which became "African American". The NAACP used to stand for "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People", but the organization changed its official name to "NAACP" because of the stigma associated with the word "colored". Those who have opposed abortion wanted people to refer to them with the positive-sounding name "pro-life", even though many "pro-lifers" favor ending adult human lives under certain circumstances.

My point is that changing a name does not itself do anything other than temporarily put down a kind of social marker that attitudes need to change. Opposing the change as being an exercise in hypocrisy and "political correctness" may seem justifiable, especially to conservative-minded people, but it can also be perceived as an attack on the need to change behavior and attitudes.

For reference, see The Journey from 'Colored' to 'Minorities' to 'People of Color'.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I agree with both Bomb and rousseau, because I don't think that what they are saying is fundamentally at odds. Bomb has accurately described how euphemism works as a linguistic process. If attitudes don't change, then the less stigmatized word takes on the stigma of the earlier term. We see that in historical chains of word replacements. However, the attempt to replace a stigmatized word with a more neutral or positive sounding word is part of a normal process of negotiating word usage to achieve some sort of change in social attitudes towards the subject being named. So "Negro" became "colored" which became "black" which became "African American". The NAACP used to stand for "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People", but the organization changed its official name to "NAACP" because of the stigma associated with the word "colored". Those who have opposed abortion wanted people to refer to them with the positive-sounding name "pro-life", even though many "pro-lifers" favor ending adult human lives under certain circumstances.

My point is that changing a name does not itself do anything other than temporarily put down a kind of social marker that attitudes need to change. Opposing the change as being an exercise in hypocrisy and "political correctness" may seem justifiable, especially to conservative-minded people, but it can also be perceived as an attack on the need to change behavior and attitudes.

For reference, see The Journey from 'Colored' to 'Minorities' to 'People of Color'.

Yup. Political correctness is the notion that the word somehow makes the issue rather than the issue tainting the word.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Because again, removing the words has nothing to do with lessening racism, and everything to do with it's impact on real people in everyday usage. It's the same reason we collectively stopped using the term 'mentally retarded'. I don't think anybody believed the term led to an increase in discrimination, but it does infer and imply a specific belief about the disabled, largely that they're 'not as good' as people without disabilities. We don't change the term to fundamentally change the world, we change it because there are better terms to use, and doing so isn't a big deal.

Similarly, I don't think anyone believes that Twitter changing a few words is going to seriously impact racism, because the point isn't to impact racism at all, it's to use more inclusive language.

You may have a point that there are more fundamental things we can do, but that in itself isn't a good reason not to use more inclusive language. It's an easy step to make, so why not make it.

Now you may disagree with me that these terms are problematic, and that's ok. But you're completely misinterpreting the point of taking this action.

Exactly. You put your finger on it. Instead of retarded we say mentally challenged. But everybody hears retarded when we say mentally challenged. It's a pointless exercise. It's virtue signalling. When you say "n-word" you are saying the word "nigger". It's the same information content. We've just decided one is OK and the other isn't.

This shit is everywhere in modern Western society and its intellectualy dishonest as well as retarding. Its an attempt to hide what we mean in plain sight. Just to confuse. In case the dumbest members of our community are ofended. But it's just a dumb excerise.

Is that true? Everybody? How would we even begin to quantify that? And how do we know that these minor changes won't have major impacts on our social awareness in many decades, even centuries?

And even if the change has absolutely no impact, why not use a better term just because it's a better term?

Unless you are retarded, then yes. The words are synonyms. Some mentally challenged people might not understand what a, synonym is. But for us that do, changing words are not helping anything.

Its as if the Nazi party would have changed the red in their flag to pink because it feels less threatening, but otherwise change nothing. Perhaps require the staff of the gas chambers to smile and say welcome to every jew entering. If we're going to insult people, why not be honest about it?

 

[southernhybrid]

My black friends like to be referred to as Black, but that could be an age thing. They were. young during the Black Power movement and when James Brown sang, "Say it loud. I'm Black and I'm proud". African American has always seemed silly to me. I don't refer to myself as European American. I'm also not crazy about people of color, since we are all basically people of color, plus when the term is used by very old people, they sometimes slip and say, "colored people". A term hated by most black folks.

Three is no nice word to describe someone with a very low IQ, but mentally retarded does need to go. I say that because when I was a child, there was a little girl who suffered from that condition on my Sunday school bus. The mean kids would make fun of her and call her "Retard". That was so hurtful. Maybe we should just use the word disabled or not use any term to describe people based on their intelligence. Besides there are many aspects of intelligence. And, some people who have Down's syndrome also have pretty. high emotional intelligence if they were raised well, while some so called geniuses lack anything resembling emotional intelligence despite being able to easily solve difficult math problems. I think we need to stop labeling people based on their intellectual skills.

 

[DrZoidberg]

My black friends like to be referred to as Black, but that could be an age thing. They were. young during the Black Power movement and when James Brown sang, "Say it loud. I'm Black and I'm proud". African American has always seemed silly to me. I don't refer to myself as European American. I'm also not crazy about people of color, since we are all basically people of color, plus when the term is used by very old people, they sometimes slip and say, "colored people". A term hated by most black folks.

Three is no nice word to describe someone with a very low IQ, but mentally retarded does need to go. I say that because when I was a child, there was a little girl who suffered from that condition on my Sunday school bus. The mean kids would make fun of her and call her "Retard". That was so hurtful. Maybe we should just use the word disabled or not use any term to describe people based on their intelligence. Besides there are many aspects of intelligence. And, some people who have Down's syndrome also have pretty. high emotional intelligence if they were raised well, while some so called geniuses lack anything resembling emotional intelligence despite being able to easily solve difficult math problems. I think we need to stop labeling people based on their intellectual skills.

The difference between black and nigger is, if you're signalling if you are an ally or not. You're signalling what team you are on. So now when being a racist is out of fashion, what happens. Racists start saying "black" instead of "nigger". They start on insisting on politically correct language. For middle class racists it becomes incredibly important to use non-racist language. They will find non-racially charged proxies with which to excercise their racism. As long as they get this right they can be as racist as they want to be, at their hearts content. They might even convince themselves they are not racist. While all of their actions suggest they are racist.

People talking about mentally changed people, on the other hand, are always talking down to them. Its unavoidable.

Its like the multitude of terms for cleaners. Whatever new respectful term we use will always end up being a slur. Usually immediately the new word is used.

Today a person using politically correct language tells you nothing about how racist or horrible people they are.

We are now living in an age of virtue signalling. Agendas are hidden. We're awash of outright bullshit on every front. It's hard to tell who the evil ones are today.

Trump voters say they are sick of slick politicians saying all the right things but screwing us over anyway. They're not wrong. This is a legitimate gripe they have with the politically correct hell that the left has become. The left will hand over the keys to power to any slick fuck who has figured out what words to say. Among the left it's reached the point where its all just one long Maoist people's court trials. It's the deplatforming and cancel culture. Actual opinions and political platforms and goals seem irrelevant to these people. I think it's a deep crisis among the left. It's really fucked now.

Annecdote. I have a friend who is in my social circal. One of these people who is, spiritual but not religious. She feels things intensely. Is guided by her intuition in life. Always super politically correct. Policing what other people say. But obviously super racist. Doesn't say it outright. But doesn't like having non-Danes included for various transparent bullshit reasons. That's the society we have gotten now

 

[fromderinside]

I have a friend who is in my social circal. One of these people who is, spiritual but not religious. She feels things intensely. Is guided by her intuition in life. Always super politically correct. Policing what other people say. But obviously super racist. Doesn't say it outright. But doesn't like having non-Danes included for various transparent bullshit reasons. That's the society we have gotten now

Ah science. It'd work if it weren't espoused by scientists of the singular example.

 

[steve_bank]

With people I am around the worse white and black are used without any negative connotation unless it is part of a context.

 

[thebeave]

It is getting a bit out of hand, yes.

https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath/status/1281023987242487808

 

[skepticalbip]

It is getting a bit out of hand, yes.

https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath/status/1281023987242487808

I don't think it is anywhere close to as bad as the news media make it seem. They show people who have visceral hated for anyone who disagrees with them and many with apparently deep self loathing problems. These are unbalanced people who are a danger to others and themselves. I have seen absolutely no one in real life like these nuts so I can only conclude that they are a fringe minority that the news hypes for the clicks they will get.

 

[skepticalbip]

Today a person using politically correct language tells you nothing about how racist or horrible people they are.

We are now living in an age of virtue signalling. Agendas are hidden. We're awash of outright bullshit on every front. It's hard to tell who the evil ones are today.

Social justice warriors are internet trolls that have broken out of their cellars to harass the general public in an attempt to make themselves feel more worthy.

 

[DrZoidberg]

It is getting a bit out of hand, yes.

https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath/status/1281023987242487808

I don't think it is anywhere close to as bad as the news media make it seem. They show people who have visceral hated for anyone who disagrees with them and many with apparently deep self loathing problems. These are unbalanced people who are a danger to others and themselves. I have seen absolutely no one in real life like these nuts so I can only conclude that they are a fringe minority that the news hypes for the clicks they will get.

Yes. On social media we almost only are exposed to the craziest examples from the other side

 

[southernhybrid]

My black friends like to be referred to as Black, but that could be an age thing. They were. young during the Black Power movement and when James Brown sang, "Say it loud. I'm Black and I'm proud". African American has always seemed silly to me. I don't refer to myself as European American. I'm also not crazy about people of color, since we are all basically people of color, plus when the term is used by very old people, they sometimes slip and say, "colored people". A term hated by most black folks.

Three is no nice word to describe someone with a very low IQ, but mentally retarded does need to go. I say that because when I was a child, there was a little girl who suffered from that condition on my Sunday school bus. The mean kids would make fun of her and call her "Retard". That was so hurtful. Maybe we should just use the word disabled or not use any term to describe people based on their intelligence. Besides there are many aspects of intelligence. And, some people who have Down's syndrome also have pretty. high emotional intelligence if they were raised well, while some so called geniuses lack anything resembling emotional intelligence despite being able to easily solve difficult math problems. I think we need to stop labeling people based on their intellectual skills.

The difference between black and nigger is, if you're signalling if you are an ally or not. You're signalling what team you are on. So now when being a racist is out of fashion, what happens. Racists start saying "black" instead of "nigger". They start on insisting on politically correct language. For middle class racists it becomes incredibly important to use non-racist language. They will find non-racially charged proxies with which to excercise their racism. As long as they get this right they can be as racist as they want to be, at their hearts content. They might even convince themselves they are not racist. While all of their actions suggest they are racist.

People talking about mentally changed people, on the other hand, are always talking down to them. Its unavoidable.

Its like the multitude of terms for cleaners. Whatever new respectful term we use will always end up being a slur. Usually immediately the new word is used.

Today a person using politically correct language tells you nothing about how racist or horrible people they are.

We are now living in an age of virtue signalling. Agendas are hidden. We're awash of outright bullshit on every front. It's hard to tell who the evil ones are today.

Trump voters say they are sick of slick politicians saying all the right things but screwing us over anyway. They're not wrong. This is a legitimate gripe they have with the politically correct hell that the left has become. The left will hand over the keys to power to any slick fuck who has figured out what words to say. Among the left it's reached the point where its all just one long Maoist people's court trials. It's the deplatforming and cancel culture. Actual opinions and political platforms and goals seem irrelevant to these people. I think it's a deep crisis among the left. It's really fucked now.

Annecdote. I have a friend who is in my social circal. One of these people who is, spiritual but not religious. She feels things intensely. Is guided by her intuition in life. Always super politically correct. Policing what other people say. But obviously super racist. Doesn't say it outright. But doesn't like having non-Danes included for various transparent bullshit reasons. That's the society we have gotten now

I think you missed the point. Use words that other people feel are respectful. If a word or phrase is believed to be an insult, then don't use it to describe that group of individuals. It's as simple as that.

I do have some to add that I found a bit humorous. Somewhere I had mentioned my white friend who is married to a black man and has four children with him. She went on a screed last week on FB about how she hates White people. I so wanted to tell her to look in the mirror and check her race, but of course that wouldn't have helped, so I ignored her comment. I really need to close my FB account down. I rarely go there. I have posted once or twice in the last year and I see nothing positive about that type of social media.

Right now, a lot of people are all worked up, but it's likely that this too will pass as it always does over time. I am mildly hopeful that a few positive things will come from the BLM movement. I've already seen a little bit of it, but if the protests become more violent and less meaningful, the result will probably result in a backlash.

 

[DrZoidberg]

My black friends like to be referred to as Black, but that could be an age thing. They were. young during the Black Power movement and when James Brown sang, "Say it loud. I'm Black and I'm proud". African American has always seemed silly to me. I don't refer to myself as European American. I'm also not crazy about people of color, since we are all basically people of color, plus when the term is used by very old people, they sometimes slip and say, "colored people". A term hated by most black folks.

Three is no nice word to describe someone with a very low IQ, but mentally retarded does need to go. I say that because when I was a child, there was a little girl who suffered from that condition on my Sunday school bus. The mean kids would make fun of her and call her "Retard". That was so hurtful. Maybe we should just use the word disabled or not use any term to describe people based on their intelligence. Besides there are many aspects of intelligence. And, some people who have Down's syndrome also have pretty. high emotional intelligence if they were raised well, while some so called geniuses lack anything resembling emotional intelligence despite being able to easily solve difficult math problems. I think we need to stop labeling people based on their intellectual skills.

The difference between black and nigger is, if you're signalling if you are an ally or not. You're signalling what team you are on. So now when being a racist is out of fashion, what happens. Racists start saying "black" instead of "nigger". They start on insisting on politically correct language. For middle class racists it becomes incredibly important to use non-racist language. They will find non-racially charged proxies with which to excercise their racism. As long as they get this right they can be as racist as they want to be, at their hearts content. They might even convince themselves they are not racist. While all of their actions suggest they are racist.

People talking about mentally changed people, on the other hand, are always talking down to them. Its unavoidable.

Its like the multitude of terms for cleaners. Whatever new respectful term we use will always end up being a slur. Usually immediately the new word is used.

Today a person using politically correct language tells you nothing about how racist or horrible people they are.

We are now living in an age of virtue signalling. Agendas are hidden. We're awash of outright bullshit on every front. It's hard to tell who the evil ones are today.

Trump voters say they are sick of slick politicians saying all the right things but screwing us over anyway. They're not wrong. This is a legitimate gripe they have with the politically correct hell that the left has become. The left will hand over the keys to power to any slick fuck who has figured out what words to say. Among the left it's reached the point where its all just one long Maoist people's court trials. It's the deplatforming and cancel culture. Actual opinions and political platforms and goals seem irrelevant to these people. I think it's a deep crisis among the left. It's really fucked now.

Annecdote. I have a friend who is in my social circal. One of these people who is, spiritual but not religious. She feels things intensely. Is guided by her intuition in life. Always super politically correct. Policing what other people say. But obviously super racist. Doesn't say it outright. But doesn't like having non-Danes included for various transparent bullshit reasons. That's the society we have gotten now

I think you missed the point. Use words that other people feel are respectful. If a word or phrase is believed to be an insult, then don't use it to describe that group of individuals. It's as simple as that.

I do have some to add that I found a bit humorous. Somewhere I had mentioned my white friend who is married to a black man and has four children with him. She went on a screed last week on FB about how she hates White people. I so wanted to tell her to look in the mirror and check her race, but of course that wouldn't have helped, so I ignored her comment. I really need to close my FB account down. I rarely go there. I have posted once or twice in the last year and I see nothing positive about that type of social media.

Right now, a lot of people are all worked up, but it's likely that this too will pass as it always does over time. I am mildly hopeful that a few positive things will come from the BLM movement. I've already seen a little bit of it, but if the protests become more violent and less meaningful, the result will probably result in a backlash.

I don't want a world where we are forced to treat each other respectfuly. It's nice if people are. But I don't want it forced upon me or anyone.

On social media anybody having any kind of frank conversation about race is immediately branded a racist. Even when the things said aren't.

I've read Guns, Germs and Steel. I understand why brown countries aren't as rich as white countries in spite of the races having very similar brains. Or I think I do. But it's perfectly logical to make the connection that the poverty of brown countries is because of that the people there are brown. Its got to be OK to have that opinion. Free thought and free expression is sacred to me.

 

[bigfield]

I don't want a world where we are forced to treat each other respectfuly. It's nice if people are. But I don't want it forced upon me or anyone.

On social media anybody having any kind of frank conversation about race is immediately branded a racist. Even when the things said aren't.

I've read Guns, Germs and Steel. I understand why brown countries aren't as rich as white countries in spite of the races having very similar brains. Or I think I do. But it's perfectly logical to make the connection that the poverty of brown countries is because of that the people there are brown. Its got to be OK to have that opinion. Free thought and free expression is sacred to me.

There's a bit of a double standard at work, there. Calling someone a racist is also freedom of expression. It may not be productive, but then again, the overwhelming majority of things people express aren't worth the space they occupy on a database.

I'd like to know what social media contributes to the common good by giving morons a platform, because social media has been popular for a while now and I don't see how it has helped anything.