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Woke Word-Policing Is Now Beyond Satire
Washington Post ^ | March 8, 2023 | George F. Will

Posted on 03/08/2023 12:52:11 PM PST by nickcarraway

Sometimes in politics, which currently saturates everything, worse is better. When a political craze based on a bad idea achieves a critical mass, one wants it to be undone by ridiculous excess. Consider the movement to scrub from the English language and the rest of life everything that anyone might consider harmful or otherwise retrograde.

Worse really is better in today’s America (if you will pardon that noun; some at Stanford University will not; read on) as the fever of foolishness denoted by the word “woke” now defies satire. At Stanford, a full-service, broad-spectrum educational institution, an “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative” several months ago listed words to avoid lest they make someone feel sad, unsafe, disrespected or something. Problematic words include “American,” which suggests that America (this column enjoys being transgressive) is the most important country in North and South America. The list was quickly drenched by an acid rain of derision, and Stanford distanced itself from itself: The university’s chief information officer said the list was not a mandate. The list warns against using the “culturally appropriative” word “chief” about any “non-indigenous person.”

The University of Southern California’s school of social work banned the word “field” because it connotes slavery. So, Joe DiMaggio did not roam Yankee Stadium’s center field. Heaven forfend. Perhaps centerpasture. DiMaggio was a centerpasturer? An awkward locution, but it appeases the sensitivity police. The Chicago Cubs should henceforth play in Wrigley Meadow.

Such is the New York Times’s astonishment, last week the newspaper treated as front-page news the fact that few people like the term “Latinx.” The Times describes this as “an inclusive, gender-neutral term to describe people of Latino descent.” With “Latinx,” advanced thinkers, probably including hyper-progressive non-Latino readers of the Times, have exhausted the public’s tolerance of linguistic progressivism. Progressives’ bewildering new

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amiableatheist; chat; georefwill; georgewill; newsforumabuse; notnews; washingtoncompost; woke
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1 posted on 03/08/2023 12:52:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe Will should have considered that before his TDS took over his soul.


2 posted on 03/08/2023 12:56:33 PM PST by aynrandfreak (Being a Democrat means never having to say you're sorry)
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To: All

I don’t cotton to the idea that uppity people can change out words like that.


3 posted on 03/08/2023 12:59:18 PM PST by BipolarBob (The rumor has not been confirmed until the FBI officially denies it.)
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To: nickcarraway

George will late to the party like always with tepid word salad


4 posted on 03/08/2023 1:00:30 PM PST by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe there’s hope, if Will still has a good article in him, and the Post will publish it...


5 posted on 03/08/2023 1:01:33 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: nickcarraway
Now George F. Will is concerned about it.

< bleep > you George.

6 posted on 03/08/2023 1:05:59 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: nickcarraway
Now George F. Will is concerned about it.

< bleep > you George.

7 posted on 03/08/2023 1:06:00 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: nickcarraway
Apparently double
8 posted on 03/08/2023 1:06:45 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: BipolarBob

Why, that’s a mighty niggardly attitude to have, Bob. You should work on that.


9 posted on 03/08/2023 1:07:50 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (There is lots of money and power in Green Communism and we all know where Communism ends.)
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To: nickcarraway

George Will used to be somebody back in the 1970s.


10 posted on 03/08/2023 1:11:28 PM PST by Newtoidaho (All I ask of living is to have no chains on me.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I’m just a slave to old time thinking, I guess.


11 posted on 03/08/2023 1:13:33 PM PST by BipolarBob (The rumor has not been confirmed until the FBI officially denies it.)
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To: BipolarBob

I hear ya. It’s a tough row to hoe figuring out what’s ok and what isn’t.


12 posted on 03/08/2023 1:14:28 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (There is lots of money and power in Green Communism and we all know where Communism ends.)
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To: nickcarraway

I thought it was beyond satire when a man got fired for using the word “niggardly”, in its proper sense. But that was just the beginning.


13 posted on 03/08/2023 1:16:54 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: nickcarraway

Well this is just great 👍
.
Libtards can’t figure what bathroom
To use or seize up on a Bloodie Mary
But I’m expected to feel guilty about
Being ‘Whitey’?
We are Doomed.


14 posted on 03/08/2023 1:26:30 PM PST by Big Red Badger (The Truman Show)
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To: Boogieman

A black councilman here in Dallas got so worked up over a white councilman using the phrase “black hole” to describe wasted taxpayer money the black councilman organized protests and called for the white councilman to be fired


15 posted on 03/08/2023 1:30:28 PM PST by RWGinger (LGB)
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To: RWGinger

With the same reasoning I’ve heard we are not supposed to say black coffee anymore.

Are we supposed to say African-American coffee then?


16 posted on 03/08/2023 1:53:51 PM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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To: RWGinger

I knew a young college kid years ago who thought that any use of euphemisms that involve the words ‘black’ or ‘dark’ to indicate fear, negativity, etc., was somehow racist.

I tried to explain that it’s very old, and probably goes back to man’s (!) fear of the darkness of night, during which he (!) has always been less safe; and it had nothing to do with racism.

He was a very intelligent young man; I hope he got over it.


17 posted on 03/08/2023 1:59:17 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: aynrandfreak

You took the words...

George hastened demise with great vigor, and dares to complain about the results.


18 posted on 03/08/2023 2:03:07 PM PST by RitaOK (Viva Christo Rey! Publik Skules/think not= The Farm Team for more Marxists coming. Iwnfinitum. )
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To: BipolarBob

Conservatives accept the woke word changes. It was apparent that we had willingly given over control of the language to the Left when the switch of red and blue to designate conservatives and socialists was accepted and instituted instantly and with almost no comment and no protest.


19 posted on 03/08/2023 2:47:20 PM PST by arthurus (covfefe )
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To: nickcarraway

Isn’t Will woke?


20 posted on 03/08/2023 5:31:52 PM PST by Lisbon1940 (I don’t see why they would)
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