DGS49
Diamond Member
I just read an essay by a cute young journalist who was finishing an extensive investigative report on the conditions at the local Allegheny County jail. The essay was not the investigative report itself, but rather a "What I learned while doing this..." kind of thing.
One of the things she learned was NEVER to refer to the jail-birds as "inmates" or "prisoners," as those words are demeaning. She learned that the correct terminology was "incarcerated person," or some such thing.
I learned a while ago that polite people never refer to "slaves," but rather to "enslaved persons," for the same reason.
In spite of the ubiquitous presence of "Handicapped" parking places in our society, we all now know NEVER to refer to a handicapped person as a "handicapped person," but we should better use some circumlocutory expression like, "otherly-abled person," or some such nonsense.
I can't even imagine what some woke-ster would do with "juvenile delinquent."
It seems to me that all of this semantic nonsense is created to separate the truly enlightened people from the troglodytes, using the phony justification of not wanting to offend those whose descriptors are offensive. As the descendant of a slave, does that really make me feel better about myself (or my ancestor) if I call them an "enslaved person"? I doubt it. Does the person in jail - who admittedly may be there pre-trial, and actually be guilty of nothing at all - feel better about itself if referred to as an "incarcerated person"? Hardly.
It's semantic Fascism. I refuse to comply.
One of the things she learned was NEVER to refer to the jail-birds as "inmates" or "prisoners," as those words are demeaning. She learned that the correct terminology was "incarcerated person," or some such thing.
I learned a while ago that polite people never refer to "slaves," but rather to "enslaved persons," for the same reason.
In spite of the ubiquitous presence of "Handicapped" parking places in our society, we all now know NEVER to refer to a handicapped person as a "handicapped person," but we should better use some circumlocutory expression like, "otherly-abled person," or some such nonsense.
I can't even imagine what some woke-ster would do with "juvenile delinquent."
It seems to me that all of this semantic nonsense is created to separate the truly enlightened people from the troglodytes, using the phony justification of not wanting to offend those whose descriptors are offensive. As the descendant of a slave, does that really make me feel better about myself (or my ancestor) if I call them an "enslaved person"? I doubt it. Does the person in jail - who admittedly may be there pre-trial, and actually be guilty of nothing at all - feel better about itself if referred to as an "incarcerated person"? Hardly.
It's semantic Fascism. I refuse to comply.