This Is So Gay
Reading Mark Steyn's "Happy Warrior" column in National Review this morning on the train, I had to smirk at his claim that NPR recently referred to him as a "notoriously toxic conservative" (as did the Boston Phoenix, which added "pungent" to "toxic" for good measure.
See, I recently learned from Teaching Tolerance that these are "power words" that result in "miscommunication."
You can educate yourself with Teaching Tolerance's downloadable lesson plans (PDF), where you'll learn about "prejorative terms" like "PC Police" and the more subtle and often overlooked "neutral terms used as a prejorative [emphasis mine]": including gay, liberal, PC, and radical.
Nazi appears in the teacher guide as part of FemiNazi, which is "not likely to be used outside politically far right discourse." I don't know if "far right" is a neutral term here or not; nor does the guide address the extra-chromosome right wing made famous by famed geneticist Al Gore.
I'm a tolerant guy ... um, person ... so don't all you red-state Jesus Freaks and Bible-thumpers raise a fuss, OK? (I think I'm still PC ... those aren't in the curriculum.)
See, I recently learned from Teaching Tolerance that these are "power words" that result in "miscommunication."
You can educate yourself with Teaching Tolerance's downloadable lesson plans (PDF), where you'll learn about "prejorative terms" like "PC Police" and the more subtle and often overlooked "neutral terms used as a prejorative [emphasis mine]": including gay, liberal, PC, and radical.
Nazi appears in the teacher guide as part of FemiNazi, which is "not likely to be used outside politically far right discourse." I don't know if "far right" is a neutral term here or not; nor does the guide address the extra-chromosome right wing made famous by famed geneticist Al Gore.
I'm a tolerant guy ... um, person ... so don't all you red-state Jesus Freaks and Bible-thumpers raise a fuss, OK? (I think I'm still PC ... those aren't in the curriculum.)
1 Comments:
You're a winner in the "Why Was Dawn Eden Fired" contest. Dawn Eden would like to send you a copy of the NY Post from July 6, 2004. Drop me an email (through my website http://vitamea.hedlit.com/) with your snailmail address, or send it to Dawn and then let me know that you've contacted her.
By the way, I'll be attending a weddding in Strongsville on April 2. I'll try to say hello when I'm out that way.
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