Couldn't agree more.
Glenn Murray
"I am a peanut"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tim dunlop [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, August 02, 1999 8:34 PM
> To: RecOzNet2
> Subject: [recoznet2] language and culture
>
> For someone who claims not to be offended by language, Lance, you sure
> seem to have a lot of chips on your shoulders, a comment I'm sure you
> won't be offended by - I certainly don't mean it to be offensive, just an
> observation.
>
> As to what is more important, worrying about the language we use or doing
> "real things" to help people - I think you're making a false separation.
>
> The fact is, language and culture are two sides of the one coin - what we
> say affects the sort of society we are and the sort of society we are
> means we will use language in a particular way. The two interact at every
> level. Thus, if you want to colonise or otherwise dominate a culture or a
> peoples, then the first thing you should do is to deprive them of their
> language. This is what happened in Australia after the European invasion
> - hundreds of Indigenous languages were purposely suppressed and replaced
> with the invaders language. Conquerors have always been aware of this
> link, so to argue that language doesn't matter is just silly. Even my
> choice of the word "invasion" is an example - by using that word rather
> than "settled" or "discovered" I am indicating an attitude towards these
> events. Some people (maybe you) think that such things are "politically
> correct", but everytime you accuse someone of being politically correct,
> just remember that you are implicitly acknowledging that language matters,
> that it does affect how we think and how we construct the world. So you
> can't argue that language doesn't matter, and then get upset on the
> grounds of people using "politically correct" language.
>
> So if there is a link between language and culture, or if you like,
> language and society, then we have to be aware of it. Use of words like
> nigger, darkie etc can't just be dismissed as historical curiosities with
> no relevance in the modern world. To allow the use of derogatory terms is
> in some (perhaps) small but important way to condone the negative
> attitudes that lie behind the words.
>
> You might be right, Lance, in saying that it is more important to look
> after curable diseases than to worry about the name on a football stadium,
> but ask yourself this - who are people more likely to want to help, a "a
> lazy nigger" or a fellow human being? If we allow the denigration of
> people through the use of derogatory language then we are also allowing a
> culture to exist that, through its language, treats some people are less
> worthy than others and for as long as that happens people are less likely
> to want to help them.
>
> So I'm afraid you just can't dismiss matters of language as second order
> and pretend to be getting on with more important things. Language and
> action and society and culture all go together and to dismiss people who
> worry about how language is used is not only lazy, it is dangerous to the
> causes you claim to be supporting.
>
> One final thing - perhaps you could actually define what you mean by
> "political correctness". Rather than use a catch-phrase, try saying what
> you really mean.
>
> No offence meant in any of this, Lance.
>
> Tim (a male)
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