The university also claims the word “lame” is a microaggression that somehow both “ridicules and ignores the lives of amputees” and therefore shouldn’t be used.
UWM also claims that using the phrase “third world” to describe third world countries is a microaggression because it “reinforces heirarchical [sic] attitudes towards nations around the world, [and] establishes Westernized (industrialized) countries and cultures as the ‘standard’ upon which to measure national well-being or economic status.”
Interestingly enough, while the university’s Inclusive Excellence Center has labeled several common-use adjectives harmful, the man running the campaign, Warren Scherer, the director of the university’s Inclusive Excellence Center, has taken to Twitter to express his displeasure with Republican presidential candidates in a non-inclusive manner.
I wonder how long until they add Social Justice Warrior to the list of incorrect thought and words?
So what? Using “lame” to describe a stupid idea is common, but it is about as appropriate as saying “retarded” for the same thing. Can’t we expand our vocabulary a bit? I’ve known that “third world” is an inappropriate term since I was in college (and I’ve got kids out of college by now).
Zinhead, that website you link to doesn’t really accurately report on the UMW program–gee, maybe that’s why they don’t provide a link to it. Why don’t you go look at it for yourself and see what it actually says?
My point is that the highly partisan website where the OP found this news distorts what the actual program is and says. I stand corrected: there is a link. But actually reading what the underlying site actually says spoils all the fun.
I’ll be honest - I think the UNW center is sending a mixed message or at least I am not the target audience. Some of the words have been considered offensive for some time in my part of the world - Jew*d, b!tch, ch!nk, and Ni66a, would be used when someone really trying to be offensive. Other’s to me are just weird - THOT? Never heard the term before. And others fall into a category of “fine, just tell me what word to use” such as 3rd world, because that concept, by any other name would still exist and have to be dealt with.
The arguing about subtle definitions of words is not going to help.
But I do think there is a point to be made that one side of the culture wars is incredibly touchy about language they find inappropriate while maybe not being quite as sensitive to language directed at those with whom they disagree.
That’s a good point - “I can’t believe you are such a @#$#$% @#$%^$% &%## @$^&#$ &^@#% because you called that guy oriental!” I tend to live more by the opening to the dukes of hazzard “just a good ol’ boy never meanin no harm”
@Hunt - I did look at the UWM site before posting. It is another attempt to control speech by defining what is and what is not acceptable language via “microaggressions”. Also, the UW Milwaukee “Just Words” website does not contain the contents of the twitter feed of the director of the “Inclusive Excellence Center” which identify him as an anti-Semite.
Slightly tongue in cheek but H and I were discussing this whole “micro aggression” thing and the national trend toward what feels like weakness in our population coupled with a desire for political powers to solve personal issues. My H says and I loosely quote: “forget micro aggression, if someone calls you a name, punch them…be aggressive and don’t wait for someone else to solve your problems. Name calling is kindergarten stuff and that’s how we solved it then, they even wrote a book about it, remember All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
I found the guy’s tweets hard to decipher. It was unclear whether he was accusing the cited politicians of anti-semitism, or displaying it himself.
Reminds me of the young woman who famously tweeted a comment about not getting AIDS in South Africa because she is white just before getting on a plane. Her intention was an ironic comment on social injustice. By the time she got off the plane, she had been internationally vilified as a racist buffoon.
Yet another reason not to participate in Twitter.
BTW, it is news to me that Third World is a “bad” expression, although I have noted that “developing country” seems to be the preferred term, and indeed it is a more accurate one. (It was never clear to me exactly who was in the Second World, if anyone.) So, does that mean that “First World Problem” is also a microaggression?