According to Merriam-Webster, racism is defined as:
A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
That definition is racist and offensive.
From Fox News:
Kennedy Mitchum, 22, of Florissant, told KMOV-TV that she was inspired to email the dictionary publisher after getting into arguments with others about the definition.
Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University, felt the definition was too simple and too surface-level, according to the news station.
“So, a couple [sic] weeks ago, I said this is the last argument I’m going to have about this,” she said. “I know what racism is, I’ve experienced it time and time and time again in a lot of different ways, so enough is enough. So, I emailed them about how I felt about it. Saying this needs to change.”
“I basically told them they need to include that there is systematic oppression on people. It’s not just ‘I don’t like someone,’ it’s a system of oppression for a certain group of people,” she added.
Whereas the original definition of racism is a person’s individual belief in the superiority of one race over another, the second definition will be expanded to include the types of bias that have contributed to racial discrimination, said Peter Sokolowski, the editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster, in a statement to Fox News.
“Our second definition is divided to express, first, explicit institutional bias against people because of their race, and, second, a broader implicit bias that can also result in an asymmetrical power structure,” he said.
Shit.
The social justice definition of racism as “power plus prejudice” is an Orwellian act designed to make overt racism against certain groups like whites, Jews, and successful Asians not “racism” because while it is prejudice, those groups have power. The powerless cannot be racist against the powerful.
This is bullshit.
Merriam-Webster is incorporating that into its definition now. It will become an official part of the English language that racism depends on group power dynamics.
This isn’t a clarification. This is Newspeak.
1984 is not a fucking how-to manual. We need to make Orwell fiction again.
“I basically told them they need to include that there is systematic oppression on people. It’s not just ‘I don’t like someone,’ it’s a system of oppression for a certain group of people,” she added.
It sounds like she actually saying that racism can only be an organizational thing…? If so, isn’t she then saying that individuals cannot be racist?
My understanding is the dictionary reflects the common usage of words. IF a word gains new meaning, that is sufficiently adopted by the population, it should be added as a definition to that word in the dictionary.
However, there is a major difference between Websters (or any of the other established authoritative dictionaries, Urban Dictionary does not count) doing their own research and finding out a word has gained a new widely accepted meaning.
What I see as BS is that one (or a small number of individuals) think they represent the population as a whole, and strong arm the dictionary into adding a definition to match their SJW image of the world.
So, in her world, an assemblage of (insert group commonly esteemed by Our Betters to be powerless), assaulting/beating an (insert group held to be powerful by OB), shouting anti second group epithets, is not racist, unless the second has an effective weapon, in which case ***the victim of the assault*** is being racist.
AYFKM?
BLOAT!
I want to use a word. It is not accepted as meaning what I want it to mean. I will therefore change the definition to mean what I want it to mean because I claim that word.
Very good discussion on these definition differences and their implications here:
http://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/the-two-confusing-definitions-of-racism-2d685d3af845
“Make Orwell Fiction Again”
Imma start a GoFundMe to print that on some hats!
I’m thinking a “communist-jumpsuit gray” hat, with the lettering in “dingy used-to-be-white”.
Who’s interested? 😀
They have some already