undefined | Better HN

0 pointspornel1y ago0 comments

When the meaning of a word gets distorted by use in bad faith, it's no longer useful for its original purpose.

Switching to another word isn't ceding power to the bad people. It's taking away their power to redefine things. It's letting them have the now-useless word exclusively, which will become associated with their speech, and not the original meaning. The original meaning is reclaimed by using a new not-yet-soiled word for it, and the cycle continues.

0 comments

SpicyLemonZest1y ago

Is there a specific other word you'd suggest? I was watching an event last week where the promoters:

* had everyone declare their pronouns

* advertised their segregated black-only event next month

* repeatedly interrupted to chant "trans rights!"

This is a very common cluster of behavior, and I'm not sure what I would call it other than "woke". If there's another word that would be better, I'm all ears. But my experience has been that proponents don't find any word acceptable, because what they object to is the very idea that this is a distinct cluster of behavior. They feel, as the source article says, that each of my bullet points is just an independent matter of respect.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse