I dunno about you but I am getting tired of folks with whom I disagree politically demanding that I submit to their “speech morality.” Any burden to be “nice” is to be carried by me but defined by those opposed to my morality and politics (and they can change that morality on a whim).
Related: I see your baseless claim of transphobia, and raise you with my disability
They can spin it at any time and still hold me responsible for “violating” that morality. As Ian said well:
So here’s my problem: I honestly don’t care what pronouns people want to use to refer to themselves, but how am I supposed to keep track?
Like him, I suffer from anomic aphasia – the inability to remember names (and many of my friends can vouch for this). If I can’t remember those names, how the heck am I supposed to remember 10 sets of pronouns that this college would demand of me (reformatted, emphasis):
Respect ‘Yoself’: State University Offers Students 10 Pronoun Options…Plus Infinity
On the school’s registration page for WomenLead courses, entrants are asked to list — among other things — their first and last names, their nicknames or “preferred” non-given names, and their pronouns. Forget amateurnouns — GSU’s gone pro. Hence, the colleges offers 10 titles. Here they are — pick your own:
- Co, co, cos, cos, coself
- En, en, ens, ens, enself
- Ey, em, eir, eirs, emself
- He, him, his, his, himself
- She, her, her, hers, herself
- They, them, their, theirs, themself
- Xie, hir, hir, hirs, hirself
- Yo, yo, yos, yos, yoself
- Ze, zir, zir, zirs, zirself
- Ve, vis, ver, ver, verself
Six out of the ten I didn’t recognize. At all. That’s 30 new nonsensical words that have no comparable words in standard American English. And whose purpose, IMHO, to further granularize our Society. Divided. And there’s no way I’m going to remember them nor any of all of the other of what seems to be a zillion others.
This is complexity for the sake of being able to put others on the spot at risk of being called “transphobes”. You know, like being called a homophobe without actually being phobic – just another epithet from the Left to make you guilty (either to yourself or in front of others).
Hint: Conservatives just have to learn, when called one of these labels, to laugh at the issuer and then reel off all the others: “yep, I’m a xenophobe, racist, sexist and all the others; try a new one.” Then, continue to laugh at them. You see, these are used as a sense of obtaining Power over you so consider this response a way to deny them that perverted pleasure.
This is just a more gentle way of doing so – but the actual end result is in having you join them in believing they are something other than what they really are.
And just for giggles, the post has a tweet from, of all people, Boy George:
Be more than a pronoun! https://t.co/Uv1o1JlxVz
— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) August 31, 2018
No, it’s not a “right” – and you have no “right” to demand” that I or anyone else call you only by certain words – that’s both coerced speech and thought. That’s not how “rights” work and claiming that it does is arrogant and offends ME (see, this works both ways, Word Police). You’re not royalty, don’t pull the “do you know who I am”, and if you want respect, earn it (it can’t, as if I should have to remind you, be demanded).
Yes, you SHOULD consider it a privilege if some accede to your request – they don’t have to. And no, I’m not insinuating anything – I think I’m making it rather clear that the Right to Free Speech trumps your need to never feel offended. I’m tired of walking on eggshells in trying to “not offend” everyone I meet. To expect such is not part of, what’s that stupid word…, oh yeah, “adulting”. Grow up, suck it up, and be an adult – and being an adult requires a thick skin a lot of the time.
Otherwise, just stay a child.
(H/T: RedState)
