'Mother and father’ is unacceptable language, says Green Party Training guide advises members to use gender neutral terms and warns that violations could constitute harassment

Green Party members have been told to replace terms such as “mothers and fathers” with gender-neutral terminology under new guidance on inclusive language.

The Green party has produced an Orwellian glossary of ‘unacceptable’ language ahead of its conference this weekend. Its new ‘Inclusive Terminology Guidance’ instructs members to stop using words and phrases including ‘elderly’, ‘female politician’ and ‘mothers and fathers’. Also discouraged are ‘able-bodied’, ‘sex-change’, ‘homosexual’, ‘lady doctor’, ‘youngster’ and ‘sexual preference’.

The guidance recommends replacing ‘gendered job titles’ with ‘gender-neutral terms wherever possible’. Members should say ‘chair’ instead of ‘chairman’, ‘police officer’ instead of ‘policeman’ and ‘parents and carers’ rather than mothers and fathers. They are also instructed to ‘avoid language which is harmful to people with mental health conditions’. The terms ‘a nutter’ and ‘a lunatic’ therefore fall foul of the rules because they ‘reinforce negative stereotypes and stigma about mental health’.

Alongside detailing which words should be avoided, the guidance provides a helpful list of approved terminology. When discussing race, members are encouraged to use the term ‘global majority ' this is described as 'qn umbrella term for people of Black, Asian, Brown, a indigenous and latin american heritage'

Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim

Green Party members have been told to replace terms such as “mothers and fathers” with gender-neutral terminology under new guidance on inclusive language. The Green party has produced an Orwellian glossary of ‘unacceptable’ language [...]

Yes, with a good dash of Huxley...

Red in the face, he tried to disengage himself from her embrace. Desperately she clung. "But I'm Linda, I'm Linda."' The laughter drowned her voice. "You made me have a baby," she screamed above the uproar. There was a sudden and appalling hush; eyes floated uncomfortably, not knowing where to look. The Director went suddenly pale, stopped struggling and stood, his hands on her wrists, staring down at her, horrified. "Yes, a baby–and I was its mother." She flung the obscenity like a challenge into the outraged silence; then, suddenly breaking away from him, ashamed, ashamed, covered her face with her hands, sobbing. "It wasn't my fault, Tomakin. Because I always did my drill, didn't I? Didn't I? Always … I don't know how … If you knew how awful, Tomakin … But he was a comfort to me, all the same." Turning towards the door, "John!" she called. "John!"
He came in at once, paused for a moment just inside the door, looked round, then soft on his moccasined feet strode quickly across the room, fell on his knees in front of the Director, and said in a clear voice: "My father!"
The word (for "father" was not so much obscene as–with its connotation of something at one remove from the loathsomeness and moral obliquity of child-bearing–merely gross, a scatological rather than a pornographic impropriety); the comically smutty word relieved what had become a quite intolerable tension. Laughter broke out, enormous, almost hysterical, peal after peal, as though it would never stop. My father–and it was the Director! My father! Oh Ford, oh Ford! That was really too good. The whooping and the roaring renewed themselves, faces seemed on the point of disintegration, tears were streaming. Six more test-tubes of spermatozoa were upset. My father!
Pale, wild-eyed, the Director glared about him in an agony of bewildered humiliation.
My father! The laughter, which had shown signs of dying away, broke out again more loudly than ever. He put his hands over his ears and rushed out of the room.

- Excerpt from Chapter Ten of "Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley.

Regards,

I try to go back at least once a decade and re-read 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, Foundation Trilogy, Atlas Shrugged, a few others.

"Brave New World" is pure soapbox preaching, dressed up in a thin veneer of story-telling. It makes numerous very salient observations and prescient predictions - but it is nigh unreadable, in my personal estimation.

"The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451" likewise contain several very insightful predictions, but are clothed in heavy-handed lyrical excess and maudlin, touchy-feely sermonizing. ("There Will Come Soft Rains" is a singular masterpiece, however.)

The "Foundation" trilogy is pure, "hard" science-fiction with an interesting premise, but little predictive power or political message.

"Atlas Shrugged" is the one novel I freely admit I was unable to read to the finish, as much as I concur with the basic political message.

I have read "1984" dozens of times, in multiple languages. There isn't a single word in it I'd change.

Regards,

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.