And, speaking of words…
…the University of Tennessee at Knoxville has an “Office for Diversity and Inclusion.” The head of what’s referred to as the “Pride Center” there has decided to encourage students to use so-called gender-neutral pronouns such as “ze, hir, hirs, and xe, xem, xyr” instead of those extremely offensive ones we’ve all come to know and love.
The world has gone mad. It’s been happening slowly for a long, long time, but now it’s reached critical mass:
We should not assume someone’s gender by their appearance, nor by what is listed on a roster or in student information systems,” Donna Braquet, the Director of the University of Tennessee’s Pride Center said. “Transgender people and people who do not identify within the gender binary may use a different name than their legal name and pronouns of their gender identity, rather than the pronouns of the sex they were assigned at birth.”
For the first week of classes, Braquet is also asking teachers to ask everyone to provide their name and pronoun instead of calling roll. “The name a student uses may not be the one on the official roster, and the roster name may not be the same gender as the one the student now uses,” ze said.
“These may sound a little funny at first, but only because they are new,” Braquet said. “The she and he pronouns would sound strange too if we had been taught ze when growing up.”
Braquet said if students and faculty cannot use ze, hir, hirs, xe, xem or xyr, they can also politely ask. “’Oh, nice to meet you, [insert name]. What pronouns should I use?’ is a perfectly fine question to ask,” ze said.
“Ze said.”
Remember Julia Sweeney and “Pat” on Saturday Night Live? In this sketch, Linda Hamilton’s character gets creative about the questions she asks trying to find out Pat’s gender:
Probably wouldn’t be allowed on TV these days.
[NOTE: The title of this post refers back to the title of the post right under it.]
But wait … here’s Donna Braquet:
https://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/donna.jpg
LOL.
“For the first week of classes, Braquet is also asking teachers to ask everyone to provide their name and pronoun instead of calling roll. “The name a student uses may not be the one on the official roster, and the roster name may not be the same gender as the one the student now uses,”
We’ve already been issued those guidelines last year at my school. I have totally ignored them. God get me to retirement!
‘Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.’ George Orwell
Is this diversity person knocking down $117k like they do in NYC and DC?
One more reason college is so, so expensive.
Northern Illinois University, a school not without some financial difficulties, has recently hired as chief diversity officer a black woman whose salary and benefits will exceed $200,000 per annum. The brilliant Heather MacDonald has produced a video analyzing this facet of the academic insanity that threatens to destroy a system of higher education that was once the envy of the world.
Marxist at WI gets $170k. Better pay than in China!
Oy vey……
Here’s an idea – let’s call everyone “it.”
As in “it” is so stupid; how did “it” come up with this insane idea? “It” is out of “its” mind.
Donna Braquet – you are “it’!
Another day, another example of the descent into the madness overtaking our culture. More and more, the scripture, “Professing to be wise, they became fools…” crosses my mind.
These pc mongers are tedious, idiotic, and a danger to cultural sanity.
One (is that acceptable?) would only hope that like many fads this too will fade. The problem, of course, is that it will move the bar a certain amount, and the next one–like Federal base line budgeting–will start from a new initial point.
Why everyone? Why not just progressives? The term is gender neutral and certainly makes even no anthropocentric assumptions.
I have used it at times, but rather than making them happy, they seem to have taken umbrage.
“Man, boy, dog, rat” is ok. Why not “progressive” =”it”?
Paul, that kinda says it all.
More fools we if we let them force this nonsense upon us. I agree with Oldflyer: let’s just call the lefties “It” and have done with it.
They really know how to poop a party, don’t they?
Human sex is exclusively determined by chromosomes. A human life is either male or female. Human gender (e.g. orientation, behavior, roles) is predominantly determined by chromosomes, but may be influenced by other factors including environment. While a human may exhibit masculine and/or feminine physical and mental characteristics, evolutionary fitness is favored by monogamous, heterosexual relationships. This suggests that human society should only promote or normalize monogamous, heterosexual relationships, that require a firm, but circumstantial separation of sexes and genders.
re: that require a firm…
that require a firm separation of sexes and circumstantial separation of gender roles
This thread reminds me of the line from Airplane — Don’t call me Shirley.
It’s not uncommon for a student who does not use his/her given first name which is on rosters to be known by a nick name. The student will ask the teacher to call him/her by that name. Such things are handled privately with ease. It does not take a big bucks diversity hustler to figure out how to proceed.
Once the battle has been won by re-defining man (noun, a human being irrespective of age or sex) to oppression, the journey to ze isn’t that far.
Everyone, lets just get down to brass tacks. We are all Comrades now….. That solves it nicely. We are all equal.
Right Comrade?
Thanks Comrade!
Goodbye, Comrade….
n.n.:
No, it’s not that simple. See this.
I had to take a course once in that stuff.
Believe it or not, many people like myself hate this or squirm at this — ah, nonsense. I will call people what they want, but I also can’t help but find it all a little silly or sometimes crazy.
Most trans people who are not academics attempt to distance themselves from this sort of thing. It really has nothing to do with our own choices. I mean, I am just “he” and please – no weird pronouns. I have no trouble being called what I clearly am at this point in my life.
I have a friend who is a poet and I respect the pronouns used by this person in public, as a sort of creative/spiritual project but in person — she is far more down to earth and content with she in her daily life. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that as an exceptional situation. I can appreciate these pronoun experiments or alternatives as art, but for many it is just a pretense.
Yes, it is all rather pretentious. Generally…
I used to think it was fun and playful but these folks take it all too seriously. If it is playful I can play along, but otherwise…
Generally though, I won’t rain on someone’s parade but it is a parade. The academic world is full of this so -you have- a report from a college.
It is probably a passing fad. I sure hope so.
For transsexual people it is actually a kind of threat in that sometimes, these folks will deliver the wrong message when speaking to people they are attempting to educate on our behalf. This all gets too complicated, but I can try to explain. For example, I was speaking at a domestic violence shelter for women, invited to read my memoir and just talk.
There was a female born individual there who went by “they” and “it” and (her) first name which was feminine. She had not taken hormones or done anything to change her appearance to a masculine one that was not done by any number of female people who are into looking kind of punk rock. At any rate, she was doing a training and I was aghast at what she was saying. Later, after I spoke, people there came up to me and said they were shocked because I was such a normal guy. I reminded them of their husbands or whatever… (which was funny but yes I am not particularly notable as anything but a “normal” guy)
At any rate, the fact that she wanted to be called “it” and did not distinguish between “genderqueer” people like herself (they often call themselves genderqueer, it is like a political/cultural movement) and people like me – who want to be called “he” and are not trying to change the binary gender system, or be anything in-between — was confusing to people. The last thing people who have undertaken transsexual change want is to be seen as “it”. That’s like the “n” word. But she was asking people to call her “it”. She was not distinguishing between us since she was also calling herself “transgender” or ‘trans”. She also said that men like myself, trans men (FTM) want to be included in women’s shelters. And that is not true. I was horrified. I shocked people later when I said that of course we did not, or – I did not. Most of us don’t want to be able to go to a women’s shelter. In fact, I take it as an insult that we would want that. So this person was talking the exact opposite of what most people want who have undertaken medical sex change or transsexual transition (long way of saying it). She was our worst nightmare. What was even more ironic was that the audience, who were just your normal middle class Americans — had been saying to her that they didn’t think that people like me wanted to be in women’s shelters…. they were right and she was training them! This is why I can’t stand the left! Yes, this is a leftist meme.
In any event, I feel like these folks sometimes make my life harder by confusing people — if they do not distinguish between us. But on the other hand, since we are so different, no one would see us as the same any way if they actually met me.
I don’t care what people call themselves really, but just don’t claim to speak for “trans” people.
But yes, I think it is silly and Pat is funny. Now, we can’t laugh at Pat any more either. Heh –
This is insane, this forcing everyone into ridiculous language contortions for the sake of far >1% of the population.
There’s a much easier way to accommodate transsexuals than Braquet’s labored, showy approach: when you meet one, you ask their preference. Or, as it happened to me a few months ago at Easter service coffee hour while chatting with a trans, he told me he prefers “he.” Is that so hard? No.
But it didn’t involve an expensive training program, and the leadership of credentialed busybody, more-tolerant-than-thou Lefties, so it’s no good. Also denies them the opportunity for control, control of our language, and through that, our thoughts.
This is insane, and they get off on forcing us to comply with their insanity.
Neo, embarrassed I know this, but there was an “It’s Pat” movie, and in it s/he dates and eventually marries his/her soulmate, “Chris.”
Gene therapy should make all this moot soon enough.
Not really of course. You have to be normal enough to want to be cured in the first place. As long as you can socially off load your deficits on to someone else and make the social world an accommodating stage for your dysfunction, why be healed?
Remember the brouhaha about “gay” rams and their effect on farmer’s profit prospects?
An erroneous report stated that they could be cured. As a result homosexual celebrities went ballistic.
Strange that. (Irony) Many of these same people probably think of abortion as a secular sacrament and the highest expression of freedom to choose. But if you devised a fetal test for homosexuality and began offering free pregnancy terminations for any wishing to avail themselves of one, imagine the outcry from those who would usually be throwing stones at, and not with, traditional Catholics.
And it also didn’t require the rewriting of 500 years of literature.
But it didn’t involve an expensive training program, and the leadership of credentialed busybody, more-tolerant-than-thou Lefties, so it’s no good. Also denies them the opportunity for control, control of our language, and through that, our thoughts.
Yes, Lizzy — that’s it!
If only I were more of an exploiter of these fads, I would be doing better than I am now. I have been told by college professors that if my politics were different, meaning left wing, and if I was willing to go along with this nonsense, I could make bank. Or, well, do pretty well. I am also half American Indian and my mother is from a Native reserve, and my father is Hispanic… so I have some credentials that would qualify but I hate this crap. I hate the victim ideology and I won’t give in.
It is a hard thing though since I get asked and yes, sometimes I do go- if they pay me, but I don’t count on it (I work in the private sector ) and — I won’t say things I don’t believe.
They are busy bodies.
I would like to see that Pat movie! heh —
Liberty Wolf:
Well, I figure you’ve got to maintain your integrity, even it it costs you.
Also, I heard that the Pat movie is pretty bad, nowhere near as good as the SNL bits, which were really funny.
True that about integrity. I am trying! Even if it means losing every friend I have.
It is not that bad, but I have worried.
Dang about the “Pat” movie. Like the Coneheads – Pat is quite entertaining. As I remember, they were French! Heh — (I saw the movie with my French-Canadian girlfriend of that time who was quite amused that they were French) — the French are not yet too sensitive to take a joke. Heh —
The Coneheads have been in an insurance commercial recently. Some things never die.
Kcom- I think I saw that!
Yes, the Coneheads are still here and they are still – from “France”! LOL
Liberty, your background strangely sounds like VoxDay, although only on the N American bits.
VoxDay was also excluded from his American science fiction writers group professional, but he went and created his own market in Italy and the English speaking world for his books.