But more recently, it seems like there's a trend of groups of people taking words and redefining them and then telling everyone else you need to acknowledge our new definitions. Words, this word, and particularly for the sake, it seems of being offended or forcing an agenda. Racism used to just mean prejudice against another race. And now people have changed that definition to where they'll say no, we have a new meaning for racism, and it's racism. Plus power is the new racism
And I think that's the important question here. Forcing is not good. Having a conversation and trying to arrive at some sort of common ground is good. Right. And trust me, I have had this conversation with many people trying to, to, to, to, to to to adhere to their new definition. Just can't see eye to eye, right. But at least we're having the conversation
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 4:19
And that's kind of the problem I have because I am not against the natural evolution that language undergoes over time. But I am very much against being force fed a new definitions. Words I did not agree to. Language only truly changes with the general consensus of the culture. So if we don't have general consensus on the language change, especially if we're saying this is the new exclusive definition, then that's a problem. I'm very much against being force fed a new definition
And that's going to continue to happen if people have these differing opinions on things. And you mentioned that people are using systemic racism to describe things now as they should as they definitely should. I think that part of the problem, though, is that we have a lot of people, even those in high positions of government, that are flat out not acknowledging that that's even a thing. How do you talk about racism and all of racism?
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 1:39
It's this self inflicted Tower of Babel thing where everybody's being forced to divide even more because we're not even allowed to use the language that was totally acceptable five years ago. And that is so scary to me. That makes me really concerned for the future of society
And I mean, like you said, the perspectives are already so far apart for some people to begin with, the last thing that you need to do is sort of like change a commonly known word into something else that's going to confuse or divide even more. While I personally recognize racism as the more evolved definition that I told you, I fully fully understand and acknowledge that that is not the definition other people have
Now it's much more pronounced and it's happening faster. So older generations are not necessarily that old. We're seeing massive change happening very quickly. So I think even how we define the natural evolution of language is changing. It's not going to be what it once was 100 years ago, 50 years ago, even ten years ago. And I think that's only going change as we move forward
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 2:08
Those are newer words that have taken on meaning, and I don't think there's any issue with that. I don't think there's any issue with old words taking on new meanings. Woke today means something completely different than it meant to previous generation. I think the problem is the language policing in the culture. The problem is when words take on a new meaning, and then the cultural police come in and say, it can only mean this
I think the language policing is a symptom of how quickly things are moving and it is unsustainable. But that's not stopping the fact that it's happening, that everything is moving at the pace, that it is at this point in time with the momentum that is happening with advancements in every area. How do you even arrest that? How do you slow that down? It's kind of like trying to stop an avalanche or a tidal wave
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:58
But it has new context since the invention of the word. It has a certain context to it here in America. And as far as the sexual preference, sexual preference for me is still. Hey, you straight, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, whatever other one. That's what it mean to me. I don't really care too much what a group is telling me to do. If I cared about that, you wouldn't be able to hear me now. So it's the human way
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 4:43
Thanks for chiming in definitely appreciate your thoughts. You brought up a few different points, so I'll try to remember them. The first thing you said was it kind of sounded like you were reusing the fact that some cultures or religions have forced their belief on others, as if that's a justification for now in the present, forcing for one person to force their beliefs on others, which I would hope
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:54
And if those words were to be changed in some way could effectively just bring about just this lack of control and just this promotion of uncertainty within dialogue and communication. I'm sure my parents have an interesting look like, let's say, the sexual preference thing that is an easy place to bring about huge debates, because we are now in a time where you can kind of be looked at funny
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 1:31
Yeah. You touched on several good points just to clarify, I'm not, you know, in addressing changing definitions of words, the word preference. I'm definitely not. To me, the the concept of whether homosexuality is a choice is just kind of irrelevant. My only point is that the word preference does not require a choice. You can have preferences that you were maybe just conditioned to or even have a genetic predisposition to have a preference. And also your preference can be a choice
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 2:44
If someone is maybe going out of other way to be overly preachy or evangelical doesn't mean they're literally forcing you to convert to their religion. But we agree on that common use of the term force
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
I think if we're looking at something different than this topic, if we want to get it down to semantics, then maybe we can say preference is not exactly tied to a choice. But when it talks about this specific conversation, it is because one side specifically, typically, those coming from the loyalties side are choosing to include the idea of choice in that regard. You'll have to excuse me if I sound a bit heated. There is history here for me around this topic
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 4:03
Thanks for your reply. So kind of what you're touching on is really one of the issues I see, which is kind of mind reading, where we assume that the use of a word is always an underlying motive or reason for it. And I can definitely understand the concern, since this particular judge does sound like she has conservative religious values. But sexual preference is not always tied to choice. That is just a fact. It has not historically been tied exclusively to choice
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 0:46
Hey, sorry I realized that at least the text caption for my last swell was a little Curt. So sorry if it came off as abrasive. Like I said, I really do appreciate appreciate your input. It sounds like we definitely disagree on this particular issue, and I can definitely understand how your personal experiences and that kind of thing can come into play and impact your perception. So again, I appreciate your input
But I would say that there are some things that can appear as mind reading that are not one being deduction, two being the fact that language is messy, the difference between the dictionary definition and what someone thinks it is. And you've got two different people in a conversation that are coming at it from different backgrounds and perspectives, different understandings of what specific words mean
That said, I think that language must change as some of the things that was brought up to me in my head, my thinking as I was listening is that our understanding of, say, the human psyche has really evolved. We had to come up with words to discuss these things. So there have been transgenderism
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 4:58
To an extent, if someone is saying you have to use this definition of the word under threat of violence because you gave the example of, well, you might have someone curse at you or flip you the bird or punch you or that kind of thing. Those people are responsible for their actions as well. So if you personally don't want to use the definition of a word that someone else is using, you can expect that there will be resistance to that
Yeah. Thank you for the reply. And I think that as much as you can say anything you want, even though, and you have to be ready for the blowback. I think the same thing thing exists. If you insist on being called something that is different, you might expect a little blowback from that, too, because it's new and it's different. It takes people a while to adjust to it
Chris Cowan
@StunningNBrave · 2:18
And I think it really undermines whatever your overall goal is going to be. I like what you said about people need to come to things in their own time. Everything moves so quickly these days, but there are certain changes we can't force, and the more we try to force changes, especially in behaviors or especially in language policing. The more we try to enforce that, the more power we give others to try to enforce their values on us