Hitchens on Linguistic Correctness.

Posted by Gary William Murning on February 7, 2009
Posted in: Christopher Hitchens, culture, Current Affairs.. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

I saw this for the first time today whilst looking for another quote entirely. This pretty much sums up some of the points I’ve recently been trying to make, though Hitchens does it much more successfully.

It’s my last  post on the subject for a while, I think.

The piece’s subtitle, incidentally, is “The pernicious effects of banning words.”

© 2009 Gary William Murning

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2 comments on “Hitchens on Linguistic Correctness.”

  1. Great article! I think the following quote speaks volumes on this issue, and it’s the kind of thing that concerns me very much.

    [...] a senior member of the Washington, D.C., government used the word niggardly in a budget memo and was forced to resign, even though Mayor Anthony Williams said publicly that he knew the term was both harmless and precise. At this point, we see the effect of taboo. It got even worse a short while later, when a local teacher praised her class for being so “discriminating” and provoked floods of tears and much anguish.

    Reply

    • That was the exact quote that hit home with me.

      There’s a video of Hitchens talking about freedom of speech I’m going to post soon, too. I don’t always agree with him, but on this matter it’s almost as if he’s speaking for me LOL. Keep an eye out for it.

      Reply

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