Getting Stuck on ‘Stupid’

The language police are out of control.

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(Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images.)

Hey,

I love words. I love words the way some people love horses. What I mean is, I love them for what they are but also for what they can do, and even what they represent. But like a horse lover, I get annoyed, even outraged, when words are abused or used for things they shouldn’t be.

Which brings me to the shoddy unlicensed glue factory for words known as Stanford University, specifically its “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative.” As Orwellian titles go this falls a bit short of “The Program for Goodthink,” but it’s close enough.

Stanford’s EHLI subscribes to the crazy and insane idea that the English language should be scrubbed of all manner of words, including (I defecate you negatory) “crazy” and “insane.”

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  1. Hubert M. Hines

    Stanford U. So, we have an opportunity to observe another ridiculous example of west coast navel gazing. It would be refreshing to find that the potentates of word butchering social activism would provide something more useful than silly, inconsequential dross.

    Institutes of higher learning, (such as Stanford professes to be), may indeed be capable of such a feat. Though, proof is currently lacking of their ability to do so. However, the crystalline quality of social tone deafness and rampant lack social responsibility is wonderfully represented.

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    Ben Connelly

    “ I try to show a great deal of compassion and grace when it comes to transgender people (though it tends to evaporate when the issue of parents committing their children to gender reassignment surgery arises). I believe it’s important to treat people with respect. But respect has to be a two-way street. Telling people they’re bigots or fools for thinking there is a biological component to male-female differences is not just crazy and stupid, it’s counterproductive. People do not like being told not to believe their lying eyes—or medical textbooks.

    Kelly is right that words change over time. But some concepts and categories don’t. Sure, there are gray areas. Some people are born “intersex,” but even that term concedes that there are two sexes that such people are born “inter” too. It’s worth noting that transgender women don’t want to eliminate the definition of woman, they just want everyone to agree that the definition of woman includes people born with penises. In the spirit of tolerance and liberty, I can live in a world where some men identify as women. But demanding that I not acknowledge that they are merely identifying as women is what is intolerant and illiberal.”

    This is pretty much exactly my position.

    In the spirit of letting people call themselves what they want to be called even if it annoys other people, I suppose I’ll continue calling myself an American.

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    Jeff Walden

    "Negro" isn't rude.

    It is, however, archaic in practice. It's just not what people say any more. It's out of fashion. Reason enough to not use it? Sure. Reason to find actual offense in its use? No.

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  4. Thjacobs1987

    Such a Spirited argument. Good afternoon!

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    Anne W (Raw5254)

    I’m late getting to this, but so nice to have you back, Jonah. I always enjoy your observations. I’m also glad that it’s not my job to be aware of or concerned about a lot of the crazy (I’m going there) stuff happening on campuses these days. I’m not saying I don’t feel annoyed, but thankfully, I don’t run in those circles, and the majority of people I run into don’t either.

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  6. Já

    I wasn't born as Hercules combined with Einstein, but I feel like that. From now on call me Hercules Einstein, please.

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  7. Dov William

    Well….I’m almost 70 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen someone from the USA bring up the use of the word America, how about that?
    There are many people, among the more than 1 billion people in North and South America who have the right to call themselves “Americans”, who are mildly irritated that the word “America” has somehow over the years been expropriated by one country.
    Citizens of Mexico are call Mexicans
    Citizens of Canada are called Canadians
    Citizens of Brazil are call Brazilians
    Citizens of the United States are called……..what??? And when asked where they live they usually say “America”? (BTW, there is no country in the world legally called “America”.)
    The author is also correct when he says “I have no doubt that there are Americans who use the word “American” to describe themselves as citizens of the most important country in the Americas. But for the other 331 million Americans it would never occur to them that this is what they’re saying.”
    Yes true….but what it does point to is the attitudes and dogmas of the past which led to how the USA sees itself today, dogmas such as American exceptionalism, even if people today don’t realize it.
    So in todays world of 2022 it signifies very little for most people as the author states, but then again, don’t be surprised that if you scratched too far below the surface of many people, you’d find they still take these attitudes as a given.

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      SD

      Way back in the 1980s, I was a lucky teen who got to take a school trip to Washington DC. I don't remember a lot of that trip, but I do remember visiting the Organization of American States. The speaker made a huge impression on me because it was the first time I had ever really thought about the fact that we are all - people living in North, South and Central America - Americans. Every since then, I try very hard to use United States whenever possible, rather than America. I also realized how little I knew about my neighbors to the South, and the only reason I knew anything about our neighbors to the North is because my grandparents are from Canada. I wish I could say that US schools have begun teaching more about the other American countries since I was a kid, but judging from what my kids are learning, that would be incorrect.

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      Manleys

      Meh, "UnitedStatesofAmerican" is a bit awkward. I'll stick with "American."

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    3ld3r

    On the bright side, the Idiocracy remake targeting this woke nonsense is going to be hilarious.

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      Anne W (Raw5254)

      Good material for SNL.

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        Jhc

        Or for The Babylon Bee.

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  9. Runalong

    I try not to post political links on my FB page but this commentary (like many others in The Dispatch) tempts me almost to the point of breaking.

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    Rae.Etherington

    Merry Christmas
    And
    Happy Hanukkah

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      Rae.Etherington

      Actually I do have a thought to share in the offensive language topic and it’s about names for sports teams……

      I think Redskins s disrespectful whereas Chiefs and Warriors and Braves are respectful team names …. But I am not Native American myself so I am only speaking from the emotions and memories of going to grade school with kids from the Arapaho and Sioux tribes in northern Wyoming. They may disagree.

      Commanders has turned out to be a good team name evoking Commander Washington…. But that poor team needs a new owner and a new stadium that doesn’t smell like a sewer pipe.

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