Yes they do reveal a sense of prejudice in their efforts. I mean they want to follow a structure and keep things a certain way. Things change and adapt and these gatekeepers and prescriptivists don't want to adapt to this change.
I believe we are all somewhat prejudice when it comes to language and our use of words. Everyone has a different idea of things. For example, when that girl was talking about how in Florida the use of the N word is just for anyone and not specifically toward black people I remember everyone getting upset.
In Florida they have changed and adapted the word into something else. I am not saying I agree with it, I am just saying that I remember observing how angry some people seemed to be. Yes it is a bad word and their is some huge negativity towards it in our history and still today when it comes to that word. The only way to get over it and take the negative power away from the word is to do what descriptivists believe in, change and adapt.
In conclusion, I believe that everyone views certain words or language in different ways, just like whether you are on the descriptivist end, the prescriptivist end, or somewhere in the middle. We have to realize that we are all different in how we think, speak, and use language. Maybe if we took a couple steps back and instead of getting emotional or attacking others on how we think or telling them they are wrong, instead try to see if from their view, maybe there would be a little less prejudice in everyday life.
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2 comments:
Mr.Hill,
Your implicit approval of the use of "nigger" as a term describing a slothful laborer is really disgraceful.
Attempting to brush aside the reality of Racism and Imperialism with feel-good sickly sentimentalisms, you do not deconstruct the mechanisms of the aforementioned. It is like trying to place scotch tape over a watermelon-sized whole in the bottom of a ship. Very frankly, when you respond in such a way as this, and more specifically to the term "nigger", it essentially would be as if you were telling an African American to simply "get over it". Get over centuries of oppression, sadness, terror, Diaspora, hatred – one could go on and on….
You cannot extricate the historicity of so contentious a word and it would be unethical to do so in the face of those who have suffered as a result of its usage. Perhaps you should develop the compassion to consider critically what you have said. If you were Black, and this term, which formerly was directed at, and used to the detriment of your race, culture, and origins, was re-appropriated to mean the consolidated racist notions that were held about your people, do you think you would feel that it would be appropriate and acceptable to use to describe someone?
The bottom-line, Mr.Hill, is that such an action is not only very wrong, it is rooted in deep ignorance.
I really hope that you’ll reevaluate your position.
I think you've got something here. We are all very different and we all lead different lives. You cant expect everybody to be on the same level of mentality as everyone else. We all use words in a manner thats comfortable to us and reflects our personal background. Its all about the expression and value we put behind the word. Anymore people just take things so literally and forget to lighten up on the situation. Its about the way you say it and your body language.
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