"Make-Your-Own Pronouns" Memo To All On Campus: Just Call Me "Your Majesty," "Her Majesty," Or "Hey, Sugartits!"
It occurs to me that one of the main things wrong with colleges these days is that they have to be nursery school-easy. They just have to be -- if you consider how the news from campuses these days is largely one of a handful of things:
1. Someone having hurt feelz.
2. Someone marching about their hurt feelz.
3. Someone making demands to the administration for no more hurt feelz and for all sorts of special privileges for the hurtie feeled and for those who got them to that place.
4. Removal of due process from students -- mainly the male ones.
5. Coming up with demands for what one should be called.
This last one has been in the news of late, with campuses like the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where I went, allowing students to come up with their own "designated personal pronoun" -- which the campus community is expected to use.
Peter Van Voorhis reports at The College Fix:
"The University of Michigan is committed to fostering an environment of inclusiveness. Consistent with this value, the University has created a process for students to designate pronouns with the University and have those pronouns reflected on class rosters this fall," the university stated to students and professors in an email, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix...."Faculty members play a vital role in ensuring all of our community feels valued, respected and included," the email stated. "...These changes give students the ability to tell the University what pronoun they identify with for use in our communications and interactions with them. Asking about and correctly using someone's designated pronoun is one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity and to cultivate an environment that respects all gender identities."
"If you make a mistake and use the wrong pronoun, you can acknowledge that you made a mistake, and use the correct pronoun next time."
Students are not only allowed to choose from one of several pre-selected pronouns -- they can also write in their own designated personal pronoun. "Designated pronouns will automatically populate on all class rosters accessed through Wolverine Access. Rosters pulled from other systems will not have designated pronouns listed," the university states.
...With that, Grant Strobl, (pictured) a conservative student at the University of Michigan and chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom Board of Governors, decided to change his preferred pronoun to "His Majesty" -- in an attempt to make the point that this policy has no basis in reality.
In an interview with The College Fix, Strobl said that "I have no problem with students asking to be identified a certain way, almost like someone named Richard who would like to be called Dick. It is respectful to make a reasonable effort to refer to students in the way that they prefer."
However, he added that he does have a problem when the university institutionalizes the use of pronouns that are completely arbitrary and may possibly sanction people for referring to someone different than their preference.
Strobl continued, "So, I henceforth shall be referred to as: His Majesty, Grant Strobl. I encourage all U-M students to go onto Wolverine Access, and insert the identity of their dreams."
More on this here, from @Toni_Airaksinen a Barnard student I've gotten to know and respect via Twitter.
P.S. On a remorseful note: Regarding calling college easy, I apologize to all my professor friends, because they all seem to be pitiless hardasses (and I mean that as a compliment -- especially to my friend who wants to lock out students who arrive late...which, no isn't because they are having a new arm put on by a team of surgeons.)
And finally, I think this country is a more entertaining place for having played host on a number of occasions to a shitfaced Mel Gibson.
The best piece you'll ever read about Mel Gibson.
Crid at September 30, 2016 12:49 AM
Are we quite certain this isn't satire?
Rex Little at September 30, 2016 12:54 AM
I know I've been out of college for 40+ years (technical degree) but how small are these classes and how much interaction do the professors have with their students?
Simply put "Student" in front of their name and get on w/the business at hand.
Why care? You've got their money and a pipeline of new business that's not dependent upon your results (graduation with a job that pays well).
Colleges deserve everything that is happening to them. You reap what you sow (sew if you are a seamstress - no favorites here).
(I know I known. That's real life and this is college/nursery school.)
Bob in Texas at September 30, 2016 5:44 AM
Thanks, Crid. Very interesting piece.
And Rex, a good bit of the stories about campus life these days seem like they have to be satire. Sadly, they are not.
Amy Alkon at September 30, 2016 5:45 AM
I used to think these special snowflakes would be in for a rude awakening when they enter the "real" world. Now I have feeling the future is going to be dominated by these busy bodies constantly hectoring me to defy my conscience and acknowledge their reality that is anything but reality. To mangle an old Chinese expression, "May you be blessed to live in stupid times." I hope I'll still have a sense of humor to deal with the oncoming absurdity.
Shtetl G at September 30, 2016 8:07 AM
Oh, the rude awakening is coming. It is just going to be delayed. And then charge interest on the account due to the delay.
The repercussions will suck for the rest of us, too. But hey, I'll be able to eat my ramen and yell at the kids to get off my lawn.
I R A Darth Aggie at September 30, 2016 9:19 AM
My "designated pronoun" is an extremely vulgar slang term for female genitalia. It starts with "C."
I insist that my professors LEARN it and USE it.
Kevin at September 30, 2016 10:59 AM
Why don't we just move quicky on to adressing everyone as *Comrade* It is where we are headed anyway.
Isab at September 30, 2016 5:52 PM
nothing new; I've insisted that folks call me *Prince* Charles for years - sadly no one has.
charles at September 30, 2016 6:06 PM
From now on, any person who demands that I use his/her/its chosen special pronoun will be called by a pronoun of my choice: "snowflake". Who's with me?
jdgalt at September 30, 2016 8:03 PM
Saul Alinsky in his book "Rules for Radicals": RULE 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
The US culture takes pride in being polite and fair. So, the attack on institutions makes numerous demands in the name of politeness. The claim is that we are not being polite if we don't call a person by his designated pronoun or allow him/her/cis/trans/whatever to use the bathroom which makes him/any comfortable. You are an impolite and racist/sexist/troglodyte if you don't do it.
The desired endpoint is clear. Call one another "Comrade". Wear gray clothing patterned after the Mao Suit to suppress sexual differences. Have a governmental commission set the standards for what salary is too high or low, and what vacation is too much or not enough. Tax away any "excess" income which is not utilitarian according to the committee on Life Style and Values. Suppress ideas and speech which do not further the common good. It is only polite.
Wake up people. The common theme of these disruptions and stupidities is that these people will make us all better using whatever small or large force is needed. It is only polite.
en.wikipedia dot org/wiki/New_Soviet_man
=== ===
[edited] Ideologists of Communism claimed that Communism creates not only a new society, but also a new man. Leon Trotsky: "The Communist man of the future will master his own feelings, raise his instincts to the heights of consciousness, make them transparent, extend the wires of his will into hidden recesses, and thereby raise himself to a new plane, to create a higher social biologic type, a superman."
=== ===
The biologist Lysenko fit into this. He claimed that changes to organisms could be immediately inherited. Change the society and a New Man would quickly emerge.
A New Soviet Man did emerge, but with unexpected qualities.
en.wikipedia dot org/wiki/Homo_Sovieticus
=== ===
[edited] Proponents of the Soviet system said it would create a new, better kind of person. "Homo Sovieticus" was invented by opponents to describe the real result of Soviet policies.
() Indifference to work and lack of initiative.
() Disrespect for common property and petty theft for personal use and for profit.
() Isolation from world culture with restrictions on travel and little information. This led to "Western idolatry" about what little was known about the West.
() Obedience or passive acceptance of everything imposed by the government.
() Avoidance of individual responsibility for anything.
() A tendency to drink heavily, into a stupor.
=== ===
Andrew Garland at October 1, 2016 2:31 PM
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