Found this article in the longreads community arguing why “politically correct” terms shouldn’t be used. You guys have any thoughts?

  • LvxferreM
    9·
    2 days ago

    I think that the text has some merit, but it misses the full picture, and the conclusion is crap.

    Sure, what matters is what you say, on a discursive level; not the specific words that you use to say it. And meaning is not hard-coded into the words, it depends on a thousand things, it changes over time, yadda yadda.

    So far, so good. However meaning doesn’t depend on “intent”, as the intent only exists inside the head of the speaker; meaning is socially negotiated between the speaker and hearers. And some words become associated with prejudice in a way that, even if the speaker tries to cancel it out, they still sound “unfortunate”.

    I also think that the author is building a big strawman on what “politically correct language” is supposed to be. It is not just about the individual words.