…then just ignore it and do whatever you think is more important. Don’t fight against inclusive language, inclusivity, and cultural appropriation because not only is that a very fucking bad look but it creates spaces where reactionaries can start to pull the left apart.
Also, all feelings are valid. If you post something that upsets someone because of the language that you use, they are not overreacting. Even if you don’t exactly understand why they’re upset, you should still extend some basic empathy to them.
This isn’t really directed at anyone or at anything I saw, but I feel like it bears repeating in any left space.
I hope everyone is having a lovely December, love you all.
Inclusive language, inclusivity, and cultural appropriation are all linked though. Language defines how we understand and move through the world, as well as what ideas and stereotypes are enforced. Asking people to refrain from using certain language that impacts marginalized people is hardly only the language of college students. Not to mention the implication of saying that asking people to be kind and inclusive is somehow exclusive to students?
Also, pronouns are very important to some people (namely trans people) and they should be respected. Pronouns are hardly ingrained in the the reptile brain because some languages don’t even have pronouns. Languages are a construct that can be altered and changed.
What I meant with the difference between slurs and pronouns is that with slurs, it’s easy to solve by just shutting up, while with pronouns, you have to make an active effort to create certain speech, which means keeping track of who is trans vs cis vs queer (which is hard to remember unless you are already friends).
I made a point of differentiating language from inclusion. It is mostly student adjacent groups who focus in on language, which is to be expected considering it’s the place where you read.
It shocked me to discover that most people don’t mull over every single word before they speak it. Some people are more “language brained” than others, just like others are more “number brained” or “music brained” for lack of better words. Whether this is genetic or socially constructed is irrelevant, it’s pretty slow to change.
It’s interesting that you bring up languages without gendered pronouns, since those languages are still spoken by cultures just as sexist as ours. Maybe there are more important things to change than language, and organizational time is valuable. [insert materialist vs idealist conflict wall of text here]
