Tim Worstall took a look at a document produced by the University of California: “Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send”. He found that “A person asking an Asian American or Latino American to teach them words in their native language” was a microagression. He then found that “Continuing to mispronounce the names of students after students have corrected the person time and time again. Not willing to listen closely and learn the pronunciation of a non-English based name” was also a microagression.
The comments, understandably, have focussed on the way that these guidelines put whitemalemiddleclassheterosexualcisgender people in the wrong whatever they do. The rules are literally impossible to obey. The safest policy is not to interact with blackfemaleworkingclassLGBTQ people any more than you must. This avoidance will be yet more proof of your prejudice, but it’s not like there are any possible circumstances in which you would be declared unprejudiced. Not that anyone nowadays seeks wisdom from a dead white male, but Tacitus could have predicted the result of all this in AD 98: “Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris.” The doctrine of microagression teaches that the victim classes are forever being injured by your acts. Let us hope that human nature has changed enough in the last nineteen hundred years that Tacitus’ observation that it is human nature to hate a person whom you have injured no longer applies.
What is it like to be the object of this code?
– Lonely. You will feel surrounded by enemies. And all outside your exact caste must be enemies: it is impossible for friendship to develop across the divides of privilege when every mundane interaction that might in other circumstances have led to friendship is fraught with tension. Thus one one of the main benefits claimed to accrue from diversity on campus is lost.
– Exhausting. You will be continually on the defensive, and for all your obligation to be constantly angry, passive and unable to control your own destiny. How could it be otherwise? You have chosen to centre your life on how your enemies perceive you. If black, your constant concern is what whites think of you; if female, what males think of you; whatever category you belong to defines you.
One of the attributes of status is that other people have to watch what they say around you, to mind their P’s and Q’s. The demands of political correctness can force high-status people to temporarily behave to low-status people in this respect as if their positions were reversed. But victim status is a very poor imitation of actual status. For one thing the apparent respect you get is gone the minute your back is turned – or a deniable microsecond earlier if the microagressor decides that he might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb and go macro. For another it’s, like, victimhood. You are officially a loser.
“Microagression”
If I called them goddamned fucktards, would that be microagression or just non-PC truthtelling? Because, as we all know, the truth is not politically correct. BTW, can we agree that “working class” is an empty Marxist term, since every class (Except “Royals”) has to actually work?
How are you a loser if your ‘victim’ status and its related activities reduce the ‘real’ status of those who lord it over you?
Surely you are a winner.
What is status?
I quite agree Natalie, especially the point about avoiding interaction with “perpetually offended”.
P.S. – Not to “Romanes eunt domus” you, but its “quem” not “quam”
đ
[Thanks, John Galt. Correction now made. And it is never a bad time to watch John Cleese demonstrate that he was certainly paying close attention to the master in his Latin lessons. – NS]
I was a Czech linguist and spy in the US Army in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I will find one these people, come up with an unpronounceable name in Czech – I know lots – give them 2 shots at it then call them racist scumbags because they will never get it right.
On second thought, maybe I will shoot first and ask questions later.
I got the gist of it but missed out on the laser bit which seems to be in some kind of foreign tongue. And another thing. I had no idea lasers were common in 98 AD.
And is the above an example of the behavior advocated for or against?
And another thing is status static?
So here I am, a white, male, heterosexual middle class person living in Illinois.
But I was born in Scotland, and have a Scottish name. People here NEVER pronounce my name correctly, “Frashur”, “Frazier” and all manner of variations. I keep telling them and telling them but nothing. I think the secretly hate me, and want me to go back to where I came from.
Is that microagression? Can I get some of the benefits of victimhood too?
Orr, I feel your pain. Be glad you didn’t grow up in the hinterland of northern Illinois, with an exotic moniker like “Rosado”! (Not so much the mispernonciation, which as a product of the same area I also am a bit inclined to, but just try to find somebody who could spell it without coaching! LOL)
. . .
Natalie, you have written a really excellent posting. Insightful and accurate.
Actually, your words apply also to the people who have to walk on eggs negotiating what they believe to be the Country of the Potentially Perpetually Wounded. Your description of what all these “mustn’t says” and “mustn’t hurt people’s feelings” and “oh, I/you shouldn’t have said thats” on the Inner Looping Tape Recorder of the person who might — despite trying to very hard to be unhurtful, almost but not quite to the point of giving up honesty — are very, very damaging even when there’s no “victim group” or ultra-sensitive group involved — unless one wants to consider the group of “all of humanity save only oneself” a Victim Group. (While it is perfectly obvious that Reality has it in for us, I don’t suppose that it purposely aims to victimise us, ha-ha-ha.)
I won’t say any more, except that you’re also right about the sense of resentment that can build up as a result.
One of my online friends, not a libertarian but more a “center-rightist,” whatever that is, who is almost my age, recently wrote:
Truer words were never.
So many reasons to be offended, so little time…
Sykes is an old English name, mostly from around Huddersfield. My linguist daughter says it goes back to Old German. It is a word in the OED.
However, fully half the people who meet me for the first time pronounce it Skies, even when they see it writing. In fact, many people seeing Sykes written down are unable to pronounce it at all. They are literally struck dumb. I had a home room teacher in high school who called me Skies for a whole year, even after I corrected him. He did it to piss me off.
Derbyshire’s advice re blacks is readily generalized to nonwhites and progs of all kinds. As George Wallace famously said, “Segregation now. Segregationf forever.”
It’s all in good fun to point out the ridiculousness, but be not afraid! Status belongs to those who act it. If someone accuses you of “microaggressing”, laugh in their face and make it a macroagression. The whole construct requires the victim of this SJW bullying to fold, whimper and beg forgiveness. Or you could have a spine and slap the shit out of some trollish hippie.
What Tarrou said. I personally believe that many such complaints are actually a combination of social tests – to see who agrees with/sympathizes with the complaint – and what are sometimes called (in the US) “sh*t tests” – to see whether the person will fold or not. These are very ancient arts – identify the group, establish status.
llater,
llamas
It is self-schadenfreude – deriving pleasure from the fact that you, and your self-identified group, are losers.
Sorry Bob but if you want it pronounced “sikes” then spell it “sikes”.
@Tarrou
> Itâs all in good fun to point out the ridiculousness, but be not afraid! Status belongs to those who act it. If someone accuses you of âmicroaggressingâ, laugh in their face and make it a macroagression
It is often a good strategy insofar as you are able. But the SJWs control many levers of power, and this kind of nonsense can get you fired from your job, kicked out of school or various other things. If it were just a bunch of whiny nonsense then it would actually be quite fun, but there is the potential for life shattering consequences, examples are replete, so laugh with caution.
The Frankfurt School of Marxism (“Political Correctness” or “Critical Theory” – “micro aggressions” and so on) is not a joke – they (the academics and other such) understand that by controlling the little things they, eventually, control everything.
They also understand that what is done in schools and universities (the attitudes and practices) eventually spread out over the wider society.
Laughing at all this is a mistake – so is the 1980s practice of talking about “Political Correctness gone mad”.
It is nothing to do with “gone mad” – it is what it is, a calculated plan to destroy “capitalist” society.
“moderate conservatives” or “progressive libertarians” are useless – utterly useless.
The Social Justice P.C. (or “Critical Theory”) types walk all over such people – use them.
By the way “the enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend”.
People who denounce the Frankfurt School of Marxism (“Political Correctness” or “Critical Theory”) may just have their own brand of totalitarianism to push.
The Black Flag rather than the Red Flag.
RXC wrote: “It is self-schadenfreude â deriving pleasure from the fact that you, and your self-identified group, are losers.”
Indeed, I’m often bemuses listening to zealot christians insist that the most powerful omnipotent and omniscient being in the universe demands the knee-walking worship nad veneration of people he considers fallen, disapointing, unworthy scum, “dirty rags” as it’s described in Isaiah. What’s the point of being considered great and wonderful by people who are supposed to shun personal judgment and who are considered the spiritual version of lepers?
Fraser Orr, wear that skirt and you’ll get all the victimhood ststus you want, at least this year.
Are we back at damnum absque Injuria?
Except – what is the damnum?
What is the “loss” the diminution?
On close examination there is no loss, simply the revelation of what was never possessed.
Or you can simply go to live in a place where most people’s skin hue is approximately the same as your own, and men still hold doors open for women (a sure sign that people are not afraid of traditional sex roles).
That’s what i did; though, i must admit, it is just a lucky coincidence that i did it.
Bob:
(What is a “home room” teacher?)
There are ways of getting even, if you think about it:
ignore the teacher when he does not pronounce your name correctly: if he looks at you, turn around and look behind you;
mispronounce the name of your teacher, changing (mis)pronounciation every time;
raise your hand to ask a question and then ramble incoherently, ending with an incoherent question (NB: this requires practice, especially to keep a straight face).
Snorri, this is the US term for the British ‘form teacher’.
Alisa, thanks for the addition to my knowledge of English English! :>)
đ
Bob, IMO, anyone who mispronounces Sykes (Sikes) more than once is doing it on purpose…or is completely illiterate. It’s not as if Sykes is monosyllabic Russian.
Snorri, imagine my shock and dismay when first traveling outside the United States and discoving that a complement or kind gesture towards a woman can indeed induce a genuine smile and appreciation instread of derision and paranoia. In America it’s literally an offence to pay “unwanted” attention to a woman, that is, it becomes vitually a criminal act by her as of yet unknown response to the gesture. If it turns out to be welcome, you’re allowed to feel good about yourself. If it turns out that you’re not Brad Pitt after all, then you’re a dickhead. It’s purely her arbitrary response that determines if you’re a bastard or a saint in regard to exactly the same act on your part.
“monosyllabic”
Er, uh…multisyllabic. Duh. Sorry.
Thailover, be not discomfited. There are among us ladies who quite like traditional gentlemanly manners. Even the construction crew’s whistle is (usually) a compliment and taken as such. :>))))
What we do hate is certain Yuppie up-and-coming wannabe Executive types, generally in the under-50 set I’d say, who automatically go flying through doors that people have opened intending to use the portal themselves, or who are holding the door open so it doesn’t smack the poor schlub behind them in the face — and who would never DREAM of saying “Excuse me” or “Thank you.” Grrrr.
What am I, the doorman? (Doorwoman? Doorperson? No, say I. Doorman.) In that case either say Thank you, Chica, or leave a tip–preferably both.
On the other hand, I have found that a LOT of very nice gents both younger and older have held the door to me. This may be more the result of my age than of either my beauty or my sex, but in any case it’s a much-appreciated thing for them to do, and I am most grateful.
So, Thailover, in the name of my own self and of all my sisters (the hags you mention not included in that group), I thank you for such smiles, compliments, and kind gestures as you feel moved to bestow upon us.
Paul M-
“People who denounce the Frankfurt School of Marxism (âPolitical Correctnessâ or âCritical Theoryâ) may just have their own brand of totalitarianism to push.”
Quite right! It’s called “Oh..I’ll GIVE you something “micro” to cry about…
Now STFU, eat your broccoli, and THANK the hand that feeds you.”
Failure to do so, results in “not uncertain DIRECT macro medieval negative reinforcement of “behavioral psychology” on your ass!”
But…but….I have RIGHTS!
Yep, and you’re gonna get ’em, good and hard, RIGHT up side the head!
And you are NOT gonna’ like what happens NEXT if I actually get ANGRY!
Heh … after all, noblesse oblige. *cackle*
Political Correction is the Sharia of “Equality” Movement or Neo-Marxists. It is a tool necessary to take power from everyone and to make possible to think only one way.
Political Correction is a power tool.
Thailover
July 5, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Tovarich.
@Thailover
> In America itâs literally an offence to pay âunwantedâ attention to a woman, that is, it becomes vitually a criminal act by her as of yet unknown response to the gesture.
I don’t have that experience at all. I think most people are pretty decent about this. Of course there are buttheads in every gender, but I think most people are appreciative of miscellaneous small kindnesses. Of course if one makes it a big deal, a creepy stare or a ridiculously grand gesture of chivalry, then it is weird and outside of normal social conventions which makes people feel uncomfortable.
The only people who object to small kindnesses are the sorts of people who frame everything as a political statement and frankly you really don’t want to hang out with those types of people anyway. Really, they are no fun at parties, unless bear baiting is a hobby of yours.
That isn’t to say there are no freaky SJWs who’ll cut your balls off for some indeterminate offense, but there are lots of butt heads in the world. To be excessively exercised about these people is much the same, to me, as the perpetually offended class of some black people who think that just because there are a small number of ugly racists among white people somehow means that all white people are racists.
I think we can union two idioms to get the picture here: one swallow doth not a summer make, and the squeaky wheel is the one that gets oiled.
Dear Fraser, I’m talking about facts and policies more than personal experiences. Policies against paying women “unwanted” aka “unwelcome” attention is rife, where it’s completely absent for males. And of course there has to BE a gesture before she decides if it’s welcome or not in rhetrospect. It’s like “anti-trust laws” in America, it’s like, ‘ok, you do ahead and do what you do, and we’ll decide if you’ve committed a crime after the fact’. We see the same sort of insanity with “morning after” laws where a drunk woman can have willingly and willfully have sex with a drunken man, regret it the following day, supposedly ‘retract’ her consent and then charge him with rape.
“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.” A movement like political correctness may lose some who realise they are experiencing reductio ad absurdum, but others go round the cycle again and again, each layer of silliness supporting the next and hiding the last.
Pronouncing the diphthong in my first name is quite difficult for most people. (But on the plus side, it translates into a great-looking Quenya glyph.) I guess I’m showing off my status by telling anyone who asks that I don’t mind, and never mentioning it unless they do. Alas for those who commenters above who imagine their hard-to-pronounce names will give them a rejoinder – I fear the next PC cycle will explain that your failure to mind till the PCers raised the point is a sign of your “white privilege” (or whatever).
English has a simple grammar because when the Norman lords misspoke their instructions to their saxon serfs the latter did not object. Just think how many verb conjugations, noun declensions and gender-assignments of words we could have kept if only the serfs had discovered the political correctness gig.
That is just… epic. And I must say this is pretty damn good too…
đ
Not only that, Perry, but Niall hyphenates properly! And in so doing, has constructed a readable sentence! :>)))))
I’ll be going along now. No need to waste those rotten tomatoes.
Where do I find a Quenya glyph translator?
one swallow doth not a summer make
It is a start.