[lg policy] blog: He . . . She . . Ze?!: Most Absurd Language Police Yet

Tue Feb 16 18:48:37 UTC 2010

Good heavens, indeed.
In case you are not familiar with Ms. Schlussel and her body of work
(which includes movie reviews and fearmongering), I sincerely
recommend the thoughtful analysis provided by the good people of
Sadly, no! (http://www.sadlyno.com/index.php?s=debbie+schlussel).

bulbul

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 7:15 PM, Ann Anderson Evans
<annevans123 at gmail.com> wrote:
> God heavens.  After reading this, I kind of sympathize with a person
> of indeterminate gender.  What hell this person must be living in, to
> be so ridiculed not for proposing a linguistic form but for this
> person's anomalous gender.  That last sentence, however, illustrates
> our need for a gender-neutral form.  "What hell he/she must be living
> in" is usually rendered "What hell they must be living in," which can
> be confusing.  This is not political correctness, but simple clarity.
> The singular "They" has been used for hundreds of years in cases where
> it is inappropriate to use either "he" or "she."  The Germans have
> "man," the French have "on," the Italians and Spanish have the
> reflexive "Se dice," "Si dice," and even the English have "one," but
> the poor Americans have no suitable word.  I have asked my students to
> invent a word that would serve, and so far they have not figured out
> anything that works well.
>
> An attempt at finding a gender-neutral pronoun, which exists in so
> many other languages, is not necessarily Armageddon, but rather a
> search for a practical solution.
>
> Ann Evans
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 12:32 PM, Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com> wrote:
>> He . . . She . . Ze?!: Most Absurd Language Police Yet
>> By Debbie Schlussel
>>
>> When I was a freshman at The University of Michigan, the thuggish,
>> long-haired, far-left hippie in a punk band teaching assistant of my
>> English class reduced a grade on my paper by a full grade because I
>> used the word, “Congressman, ” and not the gender neutral,
>> “Congressperson.”  I told him, “This is a bunch of verbal manure . . .
>> or is that, ‘personure?’”  Thomas Sowell found out about it and
>> mentioned it in one of his syndicated columns.  It was ridiculous, but
>> at the time Michigan had an absurd “inclusive” language policy, which
>> stated that if you used words like “he,” or “fireman,” or, even
>> “mother,” you were being “uninclusive,” and therefore, you were
>> somehow a bigot.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  But leftists get off on being the
>> language and speech police. Stretching the limits on political
>> correctness is their ultimate aphrodisiac.
>>
>> And, so, it’s no surprise that my alma mater is once again involved in
>> this ridiculous  language orthodoxy.  While our Islamic enemies are
>> teaching their kids to use guns, rig IEDs, and destroy us, some
>> gender-ambiguous bizarro in the University of Michigan School of
>> Social Work, Timothy Jean Corvidae, who wants the University to get
>> rid of the use of gender specific pronouns like “he” and “she” in
>> favor of “Ze.”  Corvidae is both a student and on the University of
>> Michigan staff. The fact that Corvidae has a man’s name, but
>> identifies on her/his/its/ze’s Facebook page as a woman (where
>> he/she/it/ze looks like a pre-op male-to-female transsexual)
>> interested in dating women, might have something to do with it. (It’s
>> creepy to see a photo, above, of he/she/it/ze hugging a kid.)
>>
>> Sadly, the University faculty Senate is considering the measure to get
>> rid of the pronouns, and could refer it Michigan’s President for
>> approval.  Yes, “Idiocracy,” ain’t just a movie or our future.  It’s
>> our present.  And, frankly, if they don’t identify with any of the
>> genders, what if they identify with pedophiles or those who engage in
>> bestiality.  They need to feel “included” in our language, too, don’t
>> they?  It’s only fair if we’re gonna subvert English to the warped
>> sexual urges and identities of every weirdo minority on earth. Maybe
>> they can use the words “horse” and “camel” or “molesta [my new slang,
>> hip word for child molestation, b/c who are we to judge that it's not
>> cool, right?]” as adverbs.  “Molesta” went to the store with “camel’s”
>> daughter.  “Molesta” didn’t have enough money to pay for candy for
>> “camel daughter.” Yup, that’s, um, “gender neutral,” and is a whole
>> lot more entertaining than “ze,” which just sounds like some former
>> Nazi hiding in South America.
>>
>>
>> Timothy Corvidae is a student in the University’s School of Social
>> Work. Corvidae doesn’t identify with any specific gender and uses the
>> pronoun “ze” instead of “she” or “he.”
>> Yup, and far left professors are actually going along with this
>> instead of failing this candy-ass like he/she/it/ze deserves. Uh-huh,
>> exactly the type of “social worker” and future psychologist you
>> want–someone who is that confused and insanely obsessed with gender
>> pronouns. Corvidae is a member of a group of people on campus who face
>> language barriers as a result of their decision to not identify with a
>> specific gender. Though these individuals represent a minority of
>> students, their cause has recently made its way to the forefront of
>> campus discussion.
>>
>> Barriers? What barriers? Either you know how to speak English or you
>> don’t. Recently the Michigan Student Assembly passed a resolution to
>> recommend removing gender-specific language from the Statement of
>> Student Rights and Responsibilities and some students and professors
>> are discussing mandating the use of gender-neutral language in
>> University classrooms. Ah, the far left Michigan Student Assembly.
>> When I served on this “august body,” I was considered extreme far
>> right for opposing similar language police declarations. They wanted
>> to kick me off, but couldn’t.
>>
>> In its simplest form, gender-neutral language encompasses the use of
>> the singular “they” as well as non-binary pronouns like ze, in place
>> of the traditional he/she. This form of speech eliminates any word
>> with connotations of gender like “chairman,” opting instead for the
>> nonexclusive “chair.”  Yup, even the Republican Party, nationally and
>> in Michigan, has already adopted using a piece of furniture as a
>> faux-title, so, in essence, these nuts have basically already won or
>> are on home stretch.  Corvidae said finding alternatives to the
>> traditional gendered language is important because there is an intense
>> level of exclusion in texts that only use binary language. “I don’t
>> identify either way (as male or female),” Corvidae said. “When I read
>> texts that use him or her, I feel like, ‘Where am I in this text?’ And
>> it’s as though I’m invisible.”
>>
>> If only. Where are you? You’re not in the insane asylum, where you
>> desperately belong. Anne Hermann, interim chair of the Women’s Studies
>> Department, said eliminating gendered undertones is essential to
>> ensure fairness in language. Getting rid of tenure for useless lesbian
>> weirdos who teach worthless BS like this is essential to ensure
>> fairness in education . . . or, rather, any education at all. And
>> fairness for humans and Western society, for that matter. “If I were
>> the ‘chairman’ of the Women’s Studies Department, there would be this
>> incredible disconnect between my title and who I am,” she said. “And I
>> would be constantly reminded that I’m not really supposed to be in my
>> position.”
>>
>> OMG, I’m laughing my butt off. Is this for real? Am I actually reading
>> this bad SNL skit? Noah Meeks is a volunteer at the Spectrum Center —
>> the University’s office for LGBT affairs. Meeks said traditional
>> debates over gender have been limited to eliminating language
>> associated with men in situations that are meant to be all
>> encompassing.
>> “We rejected ‘he’ as an all-encompassing pronoun,” he said. “With ‘him
>> or her,’ we need to recognize that some people don’t identify with
>> either, and although there are few of them, they still need to be
>> accounted for.”
>>
>> Um, yeah, some people don’t identify with the human species, and
>> there’s a loony bin and medications ready to go. It’s not the language
>> that needs to be altered. It’s some people . . . with shock therapy.
>>
>> “There’s more awareness, more openness and more resistance to the idea
>> of a binary gender system,” he said.
>>
>> In recognition of non-gendered students on campus, the Michigan
>> Student Assembly passed a resolution to amend the Statement of Student
>> Rights and Responsibilities to use gender-neutral language exclusively
>> as part of a package of recommendations to the student code.
>>
>> The resolution is currently being reviewed by the Senate Advisory
>> Committee on University Affairs — the leading faculty governing body
>> on campus — and if passed, will continue to University President Mary
>> Sue Coleman for final approval.
>>
>> Loren Sherry, assistant director of the Spectrum Center, helped to
>> compile the resolution. He said that when he went through the
>> approximately 10-page Statement and replaced every use of binary
>> language with a gender-neutral alternative, he was very specific about
>> the choices he made.
>>
>> TEN pages for this BS?! Just draw a picture of a man with his penis
>> cut-off (and Western civilization and the classics with their penises
>> cut off). That only takes one page. And it says the same thing.
>>
>> In addition to the work by MSA and other student groups, in interviews
>> last week many professors said they agree that gender-neutral thinking
>> should be used in the classroom.
>>
>> Robin Queen, professor of linguistics, wrote in an e-mail interview
>> with The Michigan Daily that educators should promote awareness about
>> the exclusionary aspects of language.
>>
>> “The main issue, in my opinion, is to help writers (be they students,
>> administrators, instructors or staff members) become aware that there
>> are choices to be made and that those choices have consequences,”
>> Queen wrote in the e-mail.
>>
>> Yeah, the choice to drop out of Michigan and go to a real university
>> where they give you an education instead of subjecting you to this
>> insane bullcrap. And the consequences that an “education” not even
>> worthy of a Jonestown cult might some day cause people to wake up and
>> stop funding these people with their tax money (Michigan is a public
>> university relying heavily on state and federal funds and grants).
>>
>> Corvidae said teaching gender-neutral language is an important step
>> because so many people are unaware of how to handle gender in their
>> speech.
>>
>> “One of the biggest challenges with gender-neutral language is that
>> people don’t know how to use it,” Corvidae said. “They feel
>> embarrassed if they don’t know how to read people’s gender because
>> that’s something that’s really important in our society.”
>>
>> Ding, ding, ding. You finally came close to reality. This whole
>> episode is an embarrassment. I’d be embarrassed in the presence of
>> anyone using “ze” as a pronoun. It’s bad enough to hear someone call
>> themselves the “chair.”
>>
>> Corvidae said using gender-neutral language in the classroom allows
>> students a “safe setting” to practice non-exclusionary speech.
>>
>> A safe setting? PUH-LEEZE. If I’m an Islamic terrorist, that giant
>> swamp of limpness epitomized by humans is gonna be my first target.
>> Ze-hu Akbar, Ka-Boom.
>>
>> Aric Knuth, lecturer in Department of English, said though he is often
>> skeptical of new policies, he was surprised to hear no policy is in
>> place.
>>
>> “It surprised me because we are people who are in the business of
>> language,” he said. “And we understand how language interacts with and
>> often represents other kinds of big intellectual problems in our
>> lives.”
>>
>> Uh, dude, the big intellectual problem is that you have a job teaching
>> English in the United States of America.
>>
>> Despite the lack of an official policy, professors continue to
>> encourage the exploration of different language options.
>>
>> The Department of English ruled in favor of the singular “they” as
>> grammatically correct, and many professors in the Women’s Studies
>> Department implement gender-neutrality into their curriculum to some
>> extent.
>>
>> LSA junior Kelsey Sovereign said gender-neutral thinking is strongly
>> encouraged in her women’s studies classes.
>>
>> “In our society you often are either designated as a man or a woman,
>> but we talk about not necessarily labeling things as one or the
>> other,” she said.
>>
>> She’s right. Tomorrow, I’m gonna stop being unfair to bananas and call
>> them soda. And apples, well . . . it’s not nice to exclude them from
>> the meat group. Gonna call ‘em steak.
>>
>> She also said that specific assignments often call exclusively for
>> gender-neutral language.
>>
>> Wow, someone’s parents are blowin’ a whole lot of money.
>>
>> Keith Reisinger, graduate student instructor for the Women’s Studies
>> Department, said the issue reaches far beyond any departmental policy
>> or the confines of the University.
>>
>> “I think we as a whole need to change how we talk about gender and
>> people,” he said.
>>
>> Me, too. About Mr. Reisinger, “ze” is an idiot.
>>
>> Like I said, our enemies are teaching their kids how to kill us, and
>> we’re too busy destroying masculinity, gender roles, and the English
>> language with this absurd exercise in the trivial. And we wonder why
>> they hate us.
>>
>> This is a sliver of why.
>>
>> http://www.debbieschlussel.com/17428/he-she-ze-most-absurd-language-police-yet/
>> --
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