mood (-)
Still pretty meh.
Back is still improving, but I still can't stoop or slouch. The latter is a particularly annoying imposition against my bohemian lifestyle. :)
Things are fine otherwise. I'm just feeling exceptionally grumpy about politics again, both community and national.
Feeling old, feeling alienated from The Kids. Feeling old and cherished intellectual boundaries threatened by people with the best of intentions. Worried about forces of ideological drift and becoming obsolete.
mood (-)
As a budding young Discordian, age 13 or 14, I was home sick and caught an episode of a daytime talkshow.
There was an old Bible-thumper on it, arguing Huckleberry Finn must be banned. He had a big' sign that counted how often the book used the words "hell" and "damn."
Every time he was contradicted, he thumped the sign. He had no other argument. The words' very presence was argument enough.
Some of my allies are starting to remind me of that guy. I really dislike linguistic purism.
mood (-)
Keeping blatantly hostile slurs, with no valid use except for degradation, away from public discourse is a noble and entirely valid goal.
Less comfortable with people policing words, however problematic their etymologies, that are not used with hostile intent and/or have plainly evolved past original meanings. (Example: "dumb," whose etymology is REAL ableist.)
I worry that they aspire for purity. Purity makes me nervous. It never ends well. I escaped purism, and I'm not going back.
mood (-)
I don't want to silence these Earnest Young People. I just want them to consider what the return is on some of these linguistic causes du jour.
I think memetic hygiene is like any other sort of hygiene: if you achieve perfection at it, allergies develop. (Read Ian McDonald's Out On Blue Six for a vivid example.)
I don't want my logosphere squeaky clean. I want it a little sleazy, and governed by context and genuine kindness. I'll decide when it's time to break a taboo, thank you.
mood (-)
(That said, fuck the "freeze peach" mentality, too. Most of the "speech" that crowd is defending is deliberately, painstakingly crafted to be low-quality and crowd out meaningful exchanges. What those bastards did to Leslie Jones, for example, should have been punished with banning, mutings, censurings, blockings, and repeated bludgeonings. That's not only not protected speech, I'm not sure I'd call it speech. Speech has content. -_- )
