Several months ago this was a Hot Topic and I wrote a Blog Posting about it but then lost it in my “New In Process” folder.
Don’t worry it will be a Hot Topic again. It will raise its ugly head again. Silliness has nine lives.
Here is what I pecked out in November 2015...
Amherst College is exploding with nonnegotiable demands from a student group that the president apologize for (among others things) Amherst’s “institutional legacy of white supremacy, colonialism, anti-black racism, anti-Latinx racism, anti-Native American racism, anti-Native/ indigenous racism, anti-Asian racism, anti-Middle Eastern racism, heterosexism, cis-sexism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, ableism, mental health stigma, and classism.”
If you so not-up-to-date (as I was before I looked it up) that you think the above use of the word “Latinx” is misspelled, allow me to save you the trouble of looking it up. It means, “Latinx (pronounced “La-TEEN-ex”) is a gender-inclusive way of referring to people of Latin American descent”.
If you are still confused, click here and read all about it: http://www.complex.com/life/2016/04/latinx/
Remember the Aesop’s Fable the Boy Who Cried Wolf? (Wikipedia)...
The tale concerns a shepherd boy who repeatedly tricks nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his flock. When one actually does appear and the boy again calls for help, the villagers believe that it is another false alarm and the sheep are eaten by the wolf.
This is from my, It Could Be Worse Department. In the English Version of the Aesop’s Fable, the wolf also eats the boy.
If you think the above student group’s list is too long, remember the part that reads “(among other things)”. The list will expand. In the meantime, let us spend our time trying to figure out what those ism’s are all about.
To get you started on your road to understanding, I looked one up for you...
Ableism is discrimination or prejudice against individuals with disabilities.
I don’t mean to be picky but you know I am... Should that not be Disableism?
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
Lagniappe: I don’t know what Amherst College is exploring (see first paragraph). The demands have officially been declared “nonnegotiable” by the Demanders. The College ought to just give into their demands and then hit the students with a pop Quiz about Dimwitism.
