What next?

From the Washington Post:

While the clickbait headline on the WaPo’s frontpage refers to “pronouns,” the article refers to “nouns.” These days you must say “343 firefighters died in the World Trade Center on 9/11” because saying “343 firemen died in the World Trade Center on 9/11” is an insult to the memory of all the firewomen who died on 9/11.

Well, maybe, but here’s a more creative idea. From an old iSteve comment:

A suggestion for the new ruling anti-WASP elite: Start a campaign to rename English. Start mocking the name. It’s antiquated, too exclusive, unrepresentative etc. Refer back to the buckles on the pilgrim’s shoes, the powdered wigs etc., link it to ‘English’. No, we need a hipper name that is more representative and inclusive for modern users. Modern International? Common International?

In the past, progressives actually went out and undertook massive reform efforts like inventing Esperanto to have an international language to be more fair. They taught Esperanto widely enough that William Shatner starred in a 1966 horror movie Incubus that was filmed solely in Esperanto. (At the premiere, more seasoned Esperanto speakers hooted at Shatner’s accent, which would seem to be undermining the purpose of Esperanto as a language of mutual appreciation …) Here’s the trailer:

Likewise, Heinlein sci-fi novels from the 1950s often include hints that the characters aren’t actually speaking English, that we are just reading a translation from some more globally-inclusive (or more Solar Systemly-inclusive) future language with a name like “System Basic.”

These days, however, progressives lack that kind of energy. They’re much more into changing names without changing substances.

For example, the dating system we use has traditionally been managed by the Pope and is notoriously Christcentric. Progressives in the past were alway thinking about how to get rid of Christian and monarchical influence by starting over with a new Year Zero, such as with the rationalized calendar and dating system used by Revolutionary France from 1793 to 1805

Today, nobody has the energy to attempt anything like that. Instead, the Good People just rename minor aspects of the system to make a name more sensitive.

(By the way, this is why I prefer the term “Social Media Justice Warrior” to “Social Justice Warrior.” The latter makes it sound like the SMJWs might actually be trying to accomplish something of substance.)

In the 21st Century, for instance, you can tell if somebody is a Bad Person or a Good Person by whether they use the old “B.C. and A.D. ” (Bad Person) or the new “B.C.E. and C.E.” (Good Person).

Doesn’t “B.C.E.” stand for “Before Christian Era” you might ask, so what’s the point?

Oh, no, it stands for “Before Common Era.”

Now, you may wonder what was so “Common” about the era that began in 1 C.E., but you’re missing the point. The point is that you are one of those Bad People.