It Can Happen To You — And Will

[Chris]

Identity politics leaves the university and enters HR departments. It will happen to you. Fortunately I near retirement.

It Can Happen To You — And Will

A reader writes:

The Great War on the English Language has begun at my workplace now. In the last 4 months an unspeakable amount of time and energy has been devoted to discussing the parameters of proper pronoun usage, complete with complaints lodged via HR and requests for meetings and committees.

We’ve been asked to require everyone to share pronouns at the beginning of meetings, in email signatures, and in our bios on the company website – with exactly the same reasoning that Ms. Trees puts forth. Namely, that it puts an undue burden on the differently gendered folks (? not sure what the proper wording is here) to be the only ones sharing their pronouns, and that it’s a privilege to be correctly gendered by your colleagues and clients.

Thus far the company hasn’t acquiesced to all of the demands, but I’m sure we’re on our way. We’re in one of the most liberal parts of the country. With the demographic we largely hire (20-something grads from “prestigious” colleges), the light at the end of the tunnel is indeed a train.

I have a senior leadership role, and I know the time will come for me when it’s no longer good enough to keep my head down and use people’s names rather than their pronouns. I’m sure that I’ll be forced to make a choice, and will likely lose my job over it. Or I’ll need to leave first. I long to go back to a time when the words “cisgender” and “ze/hir” weren’t something I discussed every day. Alas, that ship has sailed. Needless to say, I have the Ben Op book on loan from the library!

Read that again. Send it to everyone you know. This is exactly how it happens, people. Those who say that gender theory is only a preoccupation of the crazypants academic left have no idea what they’re talking about. This stuff may start in universities, but it doesn’t stay there. There has never been a fad that corporate Human Resources departments don’t seize on to justify their existence. And corporate lawyers will be advising their clients to adopt this insanity as a way to protect themselves from “hostile workplace” lawsuits. (Another reason to be mindful of the judiciary as you vote.)

Let me say it as clearly as I can: you cannot hide from this stuff. It is coming. The people who tell you not to worry about it are either fools or liars.

...

For those who plan to collaborate, or who feel they have no real choice for whatever reason, here is some advance preparation material, courtesy of the University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee. This will be on the test, bigot:

[Dr. Who]

Who comes up with this stuff? Them, they, their(s) and themself is already gender neutral. Last time I checked, the gender neutral pronoun for an unknown gender was "it".

[waltky]

possum hidin' under the couch.

[Chris]

Who comes up with this stuff? Them, they, their(s) and themself is already gender neutral. Last time I checked, the gender neutral pronoun for an unknown gender was "it".

The left, your team. You don't recognize the pattern? Subvert the old, tried and what worked well, and force the new, untried and sure to fail. Liberalism.

[Dr. Who]

The left, your team. You don't recognize the pattern? Subvert the old, tried and what worked well, and force the new, untried and sure to fail. Liberalism.

Some of it is hanging by fingernails off the left edge of the Nolan chart. That's not the majority, who while wishing to be inclusive are not willing to embrace every hare-brained ideological cause.

[Crepitus]

The left, your team. You don't recognize the pattern? Subvert the old, tried and what worked well, and force the new, untried and sure to fail. Liberalism.

These people hold the position on the left that is held by the folks calling for revolution on the right. Neither one represents the party mainstream.

[Chris]

These people hold the position on the left that is held by the folks calling for revolution on the right. Neither one represents the party mainstream.

Well that made no sense.

This identity politics crap came from the universities which mostly left. It's invading HR departments eager to get in on it. They're not radicals like Antifa.

[Chris]

Some of it is hanging by fingernails off the left edge of the Nolan chart. That's not the majority, who while wishing to be inclusive are not willing to embrace every hare-brained ideological cause.

Where do you get your info?

This is what university students are being taught before they come out into the real world.

This stuff is already law in Canada. https://www.mercatornet.com/features...-or-else/20004

[Dr. Who]

Where do you get your info?

This is what university students are being taught before they come out into the real world.

This stuff is already law in Canada. https://www.mercatornet.com/features...-or-else/20004

It forces government agencies and anything governed by government agencies. It cannot force people to know a million different pronouns. I expect that it will eventually become unwieldy and be revised. No doubt it will be challenged legally. At the very least, there will have to be an agreement on pronouns, not just whatever someone wants to adopt as a form of address. That is ridiculous. The law is pretty consistent with regard to what is reasonable. It's not reasonable to expect everyone to know arbitrary pronouns.

[Chris]

It forces government agencies and anything governed by government agencies. It cannot force people to know a million different pronouns. I expect that it will eventually become unwieldy and be revised. No doubt it will be challenged legally. At the very least, there will have to be an agreement on pronouns, not just whatever someone wants to adopt as a form of address. That is ridiculous. The law is pretty consistent with regard to what is reasonable. It's not reasonable to expect everyone to know arbitrary pronouns.

Oh but it does force others, those who rent and those who employ and those who educate.








This is why liberalism fails.