RE: [Marxism] on sexist language

["Jack Cade" <jack.cade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Louise Walker unsubscribed shortly after replying to Jscotlive.

        I'm sorry but my take on this is that Louise Walker is
somewhere laughing her head off. She has no background of making
contributions of any kind (not that I am suggesting it or see it
as some kind of qualification). Yet she comes on, stirs up a
storm over use of sexist terms and is off. No respect for the
list which has discussed the points she raised. This is the
hallmark of a troll. How many times have I seen this done? If you
know the 'right buttons to press' it is very easy. One group, I
used to read, wasted hours on the use of the word 'cunt' that
someone had carelessly used in a contribution. It has more than
one meaning: female genitalia is one of them but it is also slang
for 'a vile or obnoxious person' (check out the OED) but that
discussion caused more heat than light for many an evening. It is
not a word I would use but some people naturally express
themselves in that kind of way.

        My objection to this kind of thing is that it is
fundamentally undemocratic. It seeks a kind of perfection that is
impossible to achieve. I'm not condoning or being comfortable
with reactionary or ignorant attitudes here but you need to get
your priorities right and get on with life or you'll never get
anything done. Perhaps some people regard this as ideal? We live
in an imperfect world. Lenin said that even after the socialist
revolution there will still be plenty of education/transformation
to do. All this kind of thing does (genuinely motivated as it
might be) is just drive people away and waste time.

It works like this-someone going to a government office; internet
group or union meeting will be told:-

A) this is not the time (come back later/better still don't come
back at all)

B) This is not the place (go to another place/go away somewhere)

C) This is not in the proper form (get the proper form-go away
and get one/it. We will not deal with you/process your problem
until you do)

This is the usual, 'don't bother me', bureaucratic response that
people have to deal with from government and union officials. It
is designed to make people go away and not bother to take action
over things. Sad to say it too often succeeds. To get that kind
of treatment from socialists is wrong. We need to deal with
issues however imperfectly they may be put.

Jack Cade
Who has been there before




________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism