It’s true that words can “cut” us as sure as a knife can…, but only if we allow them to.
And in this case, it’s my belief that some people are self-inflicting their “wounds” where there need not be any.
Korin Miller, for Yahoo, reports that, “The growing Black Lives Matter movement has caused many people to rethink how they approach several areas of life, seeping into company policies, police reform, entertainment and education, among other things. Now many of the words and phrases that we regularly use are getting revisited in an effort for linguistic equity.”
“Linguistic equity…,” interesting.
I suppose, in a world where words and thoughts are more important, and dangerous, than actual actions, “linguistic equity” is a real issue.
And again…, please, please, please, please, please understand that “The Black Lives Matter movement” is not really worried about black lives. The Black Lives Matter organization is only concerned with destroying America as we know it, and implementing their Marxist/communist ideals.
All of this “background noise” is being generated by the useful idiots who think the Black Lives Matter organization really cares what they’re offended by.
“Several words that are a common part of the English language are getting reassessed for having racist undertones or origins.”
“Reassessed” by who?
Is there some “panel” of people who determine what is officially racist and what is not?
“Among some of the more explicit racist terms are ‘master bedroom,’ which can evoke the imagery of master-slave relations on plantations.”
Oh…, “it can evoke the imagery.”
How dare they evoke that kind of imagery!”
“Tech engineers have used the words ‘master’ and ‘slave’ to describe software and hardware in which one process controls another, and a ‘blacklist’ is a term that refers to a collection of people who are excluded.”
‘“The English language is filled with these references, and many people don’t even think twice about where they came from or what they mean,’ Kristen Syrett, presidential term chair in experimental linguistics at Rutgers University, tells Yahoo Life. ‘But what happens is that the language we speak, having had those influences in it, implicitly influences the way we think about people,’ she says.”
I beg to differ, Professor Syrett. People will only be offended by these benign references in language if they are actively looking to be offended by terms that don’t intend to offend anyone.
And you are the “chair” in “experimental linguistics?”
I hope you don’t mind me asking, “What in the hell is experimental linguistics?”
And the department is big enough that it needs a chairperson?
Just sayin’.
“The Houston Association of Realtors announced in late June that it would be replacing the term ‘master bedroom’ with ‘primary bedroom’ in its listings.”
Bravo! Bravisimo, Houston Association of Realtors!
What a bold and life-changing step!
“The Court of Master Sommeliers, a prestigious organization that grants the coveted title of ‘master sommelier’ to select wine experts, announced in a letter in late June that it would stop using the term ‘Master’ before a sommelier’s last name. ‘Part of what brought us all to the hospitality industry and to the Court of Master Sommeliers is a deeply ingrained desire to serve others. That desire we know was a crucial guiding light on our journey to becoming Master Sommeliers,’ the letter reads. ‘Let us use that light now to do our part to effect the change we know is possible and necessary.’”
Really?
Are these people really serious?
“A leader on Twitter’s engineering team shared on the platform that the company would be dropping the use of the terms ‘master,’ ‘slave’ and ‘blacklist’ from its code, noting that ‘words matter.’”
I’m not sure where these words would appear in “its [Twitter’s] code,” but, whatever.
“How did these words become such a part of our culture, anyway?”
“This doesn’t just happen around subjects of race. Patriarchy, gender and other factors of everyday life also seep into language, Syrett says. ‘We take what’s familiar to us — our culture, our society and our immediate environment — and that finds its way into language,’ she says.”
Ohhhhh reeeeeally???!!!
And rightly so!
I can see now why you’re a professor in this area.
‘“It’s a very natural thing that happens, and we might not even think of it as being connected to relationships with people, but it infiltrates our language in subtle ways.’”
‘“Over time, people forget the origins of the word or maybe never even realized they existed in the first place,’ Syrett says.”
How is it possible to be offended by these words, then…, if these people never even realized the existence of the word’s origins…, unless they are mistakenly superimposing meaning onto words that have no intentions of offending anyone.
“These words are allowed to continue to exist because they indicate a larger societal problem,’ Gabriel Torres Colon, a cultural anthropologist with research and teaching interests in race, politics, sports and intellectual history at Vanderbilt University, tells Yahoo Life. ‘The most important insight in the study of language and racism is that in order for racism to be embedded in language, linguistic terms need not be explicitly racist,’ he says. ‘This is an important point of departure because we need to be aware that when we debate the need to remove racist phrases from everyday language use, we are not necessarily addressing the entire problem of how racism is embedded in language.’”
Thank you, Professor Colon.
I feel I am stupider now for having read that.
“Explicitly racist words ‘always exist’ alongside ‘implicit linguistic racism,’ Torres Colon says. For example, he points out that there is a lot of attention right now on the term ‘master bedroom,’ but not as much on terms like ‘plantation shutters’ and ‘plantation’— and ‘colonial’-style homes, which he says are ‘equally as problematic.’”
No, Professor Colon, the only thing that’s “problematic” is your hyper-racial sensitivity that is seeing “racial ghosts” where there aren’t any.
“While words matter, Torres Colon says that actions carry an even greater impact.”
This guy is brilliant!
Brilliant, I tell you!
‘“What is crystal clear is that there is no reason to believe that changing the way we speak will likely lead to measurable social change,’ he says.”
So, after all of this whining and crying, he’s now admitting that none of this will probably make any difference, socially, one way or another?
It’s just such a typical, idiotic, liberal activist, social endeavor.
These professorial “experts” should maybe take a look in the mirror.
How about some potentially offensive terms that exist in their own world of education?
Like, Master’s degree.
Bachelor’s degree.
School Master.
Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior? Why not just first year, second year, etc.?
Gender exclusive and discriminative fraternities and sororities.
Well…, if you’re going to go there, let’s go there.
From Merriam-Webster.com, let’s look at all of the possible definitions associated with the word “master.”
Master as a noun:
1a: (1): a male teacher
(2): a person holding an academic degree higher than a bachelor’s but lower than a doctor’s
also : the degree itself
b: often capitalized : a revered religious leader
c: a worker or artisan qualified to teach apprentices
d: (1): an artist, performer, or player of consummate skill
(2): a great figure of the past (as in science or art) whose work serves as a model or ideal
2a: one having authority over another : RULER, GOVERNOR
This decisive battle left him master of Europe.
b: one that conquers or masters : VICTOR, SUPERIOR
In the new challenger the champion found his master.
c: a person licensed to command a merchant ship
d: a person who is in control of something (such as a situation)
She wanted to be the master of her own fate.
e: an owner especially of an animal
They looked around for the dog’s master.
f: in historical contexts : the owner of a slave
g: an employer especially of a servant
h: (1)dialect : HUSBAND
(2): the male head of a household
3a(1)archaic : MR.
(2): a youth or boy too young to be called mister —used as a title
b: the eldest son of a Scottish viscount or baron (see BARON sense 2a)
4a: a presiding officer in an institution or society (such as a college)
b: any of several officers of court appointed to assist (as by hearing and reporting) a judge
5a: a master mechanism 1) or device
b: an original from which copies can be made
especially : a master recording (such as a magnetic tape)
Master as an adjective:
: being or relating to a master: such as
a: having chief authority : DOMINANT
b: SKILLED, PROFICIENT
a prosperous master builder
— Current Biography
c: PRINCIPAL, PREDOMINANT
d: SUPERLATIVE —often used in combination
a master-liar
e: being a device or mechanism that controls the operation of another mechanism or that establishes a standard (such as a dimension or weight)
f: being or relating to a master from which duplicates are made
Master as a verb:
1: to become master of: OVERCOME
Mastered his fears.
2a: to become skilled or proficient in the use of
master a foreign language
b: to gain a thorough understanding of
Had mastered every aspect of publishing.
3: to produce a master recording of (something, such as a musical rendition)
There are quite a few ways to take this word, aren’t there?
But not for these people.
For these racial “guard dogs,” focused on race and “racism” around the clock, “master” can only mean the “master” of a slave.
You see, it doesn’t matter what anyone’s intentions are. The only thing that matters is their perception.
What if some people told you they were offended by the term “Black Lives Matter?”
I mean, who’s level of being offended trumps anyone else’s?
Where does it end?
In a truly free country, you can choose to use, or not use, whatever words you want…, but you should not be free to impose your choices on anyone else.
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