‘Female’, ‘invasive’ and ‘survival of the fittest’.
These are just three of the terms scientists now argue deserve to be banned.
In a new crackdown on ‘harmful terminology’ in science, members of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Language Project – founded by scientists in the US and Canada – have published a list of 24 ‘harmful terms’ regularly used.
Deemed ‘offensive’, they’ve instead suggested a revised list of ‘replacement terms’.
Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, researchers said efforts to ‘champion inclusive language’ in science is ‘particularly important for redressing the ongoing marginalization of many groups’.
Fuck off. When you have done that, fuck off again and keep fucking off until we can no longer hear or see you. I flatly refuse to go along with this claptrap.
Did I mention to fuck the fuck off?
Just as an afterthought, these people are so insane that the terms male and female appear in both sides of the table – so offensive that they should be replaced with Sperm-producing/egg-producing or XY/XX individual, but themselves as a replacement for another, more offensive term – man and woman. These people are retards.
Some of the terms suggested remind me of the pronouncements from North Korea.High sounding efforts to disguise the fact that that they are trying to hide from reality and fool reasonable people.
Bastards, all of them, the world would be a better place without them.
Same mentality.
Remember the memes about Courtiers who struggled for status within the Court or High Society by wearing more and more ridiclous wigs and clothing? And how the Rude Mechanicals looking on thought the activities were examples of crazed minds?
This is the same thing. Unfortunately it is carried out by some scientists – although Richard Dawkins roundly condemns their ideas.
Let’s hope people take as much notice of this as those Scottish NHS staff did of the wretched pin badges..
If the old words are currently used as insults, changing the words will just make those new words into insults. They must be pretty special if they don’t know that, 😉
This is ridiculous and I expect it will be ignored. I will most certainly ignore it. Never use two words where one will do.
The term scientist does not mean very much anymore as it appears any idiot without a sense of self awareness calls itself that.
“Indian” is on the list. Now I can see that members of the Apache, Cherokee and other native American tribes might find the word offensive when applied to them, how would one refer to a native of India if the word is removed from the lexicon? “Indigenous”, the suggested alternative, doesn’t quite fit the bill.
I have an Indian motorcycle. The fuckers are going after them, apparently.
To be fair, I think that referring to Native Americans as Indians is a bit of a stupid anachronism.
So, you have a motorcycle that is called an Indian plus a Royal Enfield that is an Indian motorcycle.
Oddly enough, I sometimes catch myself referring to the Enfield as the Indian. It’s confusing.