Dept of Interior to remove offensive name from public lands

[Rhea]

The U.S. looks to replace a derogatory name used hundreds of times on federal lands​

The Department of the Interior is moving forward with plans to remove a name the department declared to be derogatory from federal lands.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland formed a task force and declared the word "squaw" derogatory in November 2021. Now, the department is seeking public comment on name replacements for the more than 660 geographic features that contain the word.

So glad to see this. It’s about time.

 

[Toni]

It is indeed more than about time.

 

[thebeave]

The McMinn County school district in Tennessee recently became the laughing stock of the country for wanting to selectively censor various offensive words (e.g. "bitch", generally perceived as a mysognistic term) from their school textbook. Is there really a significant difference between these two cases of "offensive word cancelling"? If a school wanted to censor the word "squaw"...excuse me, I mean "sq---", from their textbooks on US history, would it be hilariously dumb like with McMinn County, or would we cheer?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The McMinn County school district in Tennessee recently became the laughing stock of the country...

Who? For a laughing stock of the country, you mean the ire of alt-right wingers?

...for wanting to selectively censor various offensive words (e.g. "bitch", generally perceived as a mysognistic term) from their school textbook.

I'm really curious how many books they have with the word 'bitch' in it/

Is there really a significant difference between these two cases of "offensive word cancelling"? If a school wanted to censor the word "squaw"...excuse me, I mean "sq---", from their textbooks on US history, would it be hilariously dumb like with McMinn County, or would we cheer?

Inertia... justifying opposition to change since the expansion of the universe.

 

[Rhea]

The McMinn County school district in Tennessee recently became the laughing stock of the country for wanting to selectively censor various offensive words (e.g. "bitch", generally perceived as a mysognistic term) from their school textbook.

The inside story of the banning of "Maus." It’s dumber than you think.

I read the minutes of the McMinn County, Tennessee, school board so you don’t have to.

www.motherjones.com

Yes, they were being utterly ridiculous (Jimmy you should read this, they were)

Also they did not want to "selectively censor" - they tossed the whole book, and with it the curriculum on the holocaust.

Is there really a significant difference between these two cases of "offensive word cancelling"?

And, holy shit YES there is a significant difference!
You can't tell?
You really can't tell the difference between a book that uses the word bitch in the service of teaching that calling people bitch is bad! is different from continuing to use a pejorative daily as if there is nothing wrong with it?

You can't tell the difference between those two events?

If a school wanted to censor the word "squaw"...excuse me, I mean "sq---", from their textbooks on US history, would it be hilariously dumb like with McMinn County, or would we cheer?

We would cheer, unless it was being removed only in cases where the word is being used to demonstrate how wrong the word is, in which case it would be tragically (not hilariously) dumb, as the McMinn County School District was.

 

[Politesse]

The McMinn County school district in Tennessee recently became the laughing stock of the country for wanting to selectively censor various offensive words (e.g. "bitch", generally perceived as a mysognistic term) from their school textbook. Is there really a significant difference between these two cases of "offensive word cancelling"? If a school wanted to censor the word "squaw"...excuse me, I mean "sq---", from their textbooks on US history, would it be hilariously dumb like with McMinn County, or would we cheer?

If McMinn County had a number of similar place names: "White Bitch Lake National Preserve", "Perritas Gringas Rock", etc, it wouldn't really be as offensive since white women are in a position of relative power rather than victims of both misgoyny and attempted genocide. To the best of my knowledge, "Bitch" has also never been used as the equivalent of a species-specific bionym in the way that "squaw", "brave", and "papoose" once were under the discriminatory auspices of the historical DOI.

But, I would still understand if someone wanted to change or remove those particular names from official policy. Absolutely. White Bitch Lake can absolutely become White Spruce Lake, and no harm will come to anyone from that decision. That is not the equivalent to book banning in any reasonable comparison. If you change the name of a lake, you can still visit the lake. You can even call it by its older, offensive name if you like. But the government no longer endorses the appellation, and there is no downside to that.

 

[Politesse]

The U.S. looks to replace a derogatory name used hundreds of times on federal lands​

The Department of the Interior is moving forward with plans to remove a name the department declared to be derogatory from federal lands.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland formed a task force and declared the word "squaw" derogatory in November 2021. Now, the department is seeking public comment on name replacements for the more than 660 geographic features that contain the word.

So glad to see this. It’s about time.

I'm glad she's doing something. It's an embarassment to the country how many of these cases there are.

 

[Keith&Co.]

To the best of my knowledge, "Bitch" has also never been used as the equivalent of a species-specific bionym in the way that "squaw", "brave", and "papoose" once were under the discriminatory auspices of the historical DOI.

When i was about ten, the government approved a name change to make Cat Mountain. I can't remember which Cat Mountain ut was, there are a couple today. And this was well before the intrawebs.

But before the change it was officially Cat House Mountain. Some women did indeed take offense at the geographic reference to the whore house that was located at the base once upon a time.

So, this change isn't even a precedent. Just way overdue.