Euphemism creep and immigration — and politicization issues

First, "euphemism creep", or the "euphemism treadmill," per Steven Pinker is a real thing. James McWhorter has also written much about it.

It's when a euphemism replaces a no-longer acceptable term, but soon enough becomes no longer acceptable itself.

Think "handicapped" being replaced by "disabled," then that becoming not acceptable and it being replaced by "differently abled." Some day in the not too distant future, because of the word "differently," that will be replaced as well.

This is a field with enough to mine that I am going to write about this on various spots, including my philosophy and critical thinking blog. But, there as here, I'll use the same starting point — Substacker Corey Hutchins talking about how different media outlets in Colorado struggle (or maybe "struggle" with scare quotes intended) on how to talk about "people who aren't supposed to be here," or if I need scare quotes inside that, "people who aren't 'supposed' to be here."

Or, per old friend Brains, who used it non-disparagingly? "Ill Eagles." 

Here, it's not just ground-level, but, in media, an official style issue, as the Associated Press long ago said both "illegal immigrant" and "illegal alien" aren't allows.

I agree for sure with the word "alien." That said, quoting Hutchins, I disagree with the AP already trying to get ahead of euphemism creep three years ago.

“We don’t use the terms illegal immigrant, unauthorized immigrant, irregular migrant, alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented (except when quoting people or documents that use these terms),” the AP wrote. “Many immigrants and migrants have some sort of documents, but not the necessary ones.”

As I said in a comment to Hutchins, why not just add "allegedly" in front of "undocumented immigrants"? 

Per that Shitter link, the AP does offer alternatives. But? Most of them are kind of cumbersome, which undercuts the usefulness of language.

Also, per the authors I cited at the top of the page, this issue tends to get politicized. And, it's usually "conservatives" vs "liberals." Setting aside L/libertarians and some Green types who claim to be neither right nor left, the politicized polarity also ignores friendly skeptical non-liberal leftists.

In my first comment, Hutchins noted that I had used the word "roundup" and he had edited it out of his post, when thinking about using it, as dehumanizing. I noted that I've seen "roundup" in places like a "kindergarten roundup" at a local school district.

I also commented, in a short bit lower in his post, about a Denver TV news anchor wearing a tie from a Soviet journalist to make a statement about the Russia-Ukraine War. I first noted the fact that, pre-invasion, Zelensky was already restricting press freedom in Ukraine. I then referenced Gaza. Hutchins didn't refer to either one.

And, with that, it strikes me that he's probably framing this in a politicized sense, and within the conservative-liberal axis, or, within the two-party duopoly axis.

To me, right-thinking (NO pun, intended or unintended!) people in general should step outside that box. And, media shouldn't step into that box in general.

We all should move beyond language that's harmful, but at the same time:

• Recognize the euphemism treadmill is real;
• Avoid politicization;
• Accept we won't please everybody;
• And, per Humpty Dumpty, never let language be the master. 

And, that's that.

Texas Progressives

Off the Kuff has your list of Democratic Senate maybe-candidates so far. 

SocraticGadfly talks about Southwest Airlines facing more turbulence and what some of the post-May 28 will mean.

Democrats want Biden to go away; leftists want Democrats to go away. 

Henry Cuellar still has Texas and national Democrats by the gonads. 

Once again, this time on homeowners' insurance costs, the Rethuglicans of the Texas Lege love capitalism until they hate it. More on that theme, re property taxes, at the Observer.

Largest measles outbreak since 2000.

This story of regular people farmers waiting to testify before the House half of the Lege is why Tex-ass needs to fix its dysfunctional, every-other-year, banana republic governance. But won't, in part because the powers-that-be that fund Legiscritters, along with many Legiscritters, like that it drives away the concerned public. More on the bill these people support — and why — at the Monthly, if you don't hit the paywall.

Speaking of teh stupidz, the Libertarian Party (presumably still driven on this by the Mises Mice) has plenty of it vis-a-vis Trump.

Simon and Garfunkel meet MAHA and MAGA: "The sound of stupid"

Riffing on a comment in a post on Reddit's r/nationalparks about Brainworm Bobby being stupid enough to go swimming in Rock Creek, with the insinuation he was vying for a Darwin Award.

Their comment was "Hello Darwin, my old friend," and I knew what they were riffing on, and ran with it.

Hello Darwin, my old friend.

I've come to talk to you again.

Because a brainworm softly creeping 

Left its seeds while I was sleeping 

And the screwworm that was planted in my brain 

Still remains 

Within the sound of stupid.

 

In MAHA dreams I walked alone 

Narrow streets of cobblestone

On the top of a street slab

I turned my collar to the vax and jab

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night

And touched the sound of stupid

 

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without knowing

People hearing without learning

People writing songs that voices never share

No one dared

Disturb the sound of stupid.

 

"Fools" said "(You)I, Yet do not know

Stupid like a cancer grows

Hear my words that I might fleece you

Take my arms that I might cheat you"

But my words like silent raindrops fell

And echoed in the wells of stupid

 

And the people bowed and prayed

To the golden god they made

And the hat flashed out its warning

In the words that it was screaming

 

And the sign said, "The words of Donald Trump

Are written on the White House walls

And Mar-a-Lago halls"

And whispered in the sounds of stupid.

Rich people, teh stupidz, it burns — Alex Fairly

Panhandle billionaire-ish Alex Fairly (father of cellphones in schools bill author Caroline in the Texas Lege) has grown semi-disgusted with the tactics of Christofascist Tim Dunn and his millions, but I doubt there will be some major split in their objectives, just Fairly will pay out more money on his own and not through any Dunn or Wilks pipeline, so take this graf with a grain of salt:

His political awakening could have seismic implications for Texas politics. Just last year, he seemed positioned as a second Dunn-like figure who could add pressure and funding to the effort to push the Legislature further right. Even now, he still supports many of those same candidates and concepts in principle. But he has come to condemn many of the methods used to achieve those goals by Dunn and his allies. Dunn did not respond to a request for an interview or written questions.

Given his background, how did a man so business-successful exercise so little due diligence as to end in bed with Dunn in the first place? Or to not look up the details on Dustin Burrows, since Lubbock is just down the road from Amarillo and the Trib does a scorecard of Legiscritters after every session. On that career:

He built his fortune slowly over the course of a few decades through a career in insurance and risk management.

Insurance and risk management require lots of due diligence, and lots of not taking spoken or written words as presented.

That's especially true for the son of a pair of public school teachers, which he is.

That's also a failure on the Trib, to ask why and how he got into bed with someone devoted to the destruction of public schools. 

Beyond that, I feel no sympathy for a dude who spends $500K to buy his daughter a seat in a banana republic state legislature.

(Second note from that story: Why is Miriam Adelson so dumb as to have two PACs, one specifically about gambling, when that will never happen as long as Dannie Goeb is Lite Guv?)

More new thoughts on Simplicius (updated)

I offered a fairly complete roundup of thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine warblogger (and writer about other things at a second Substack at the start of this year.

Turns out he has a second Substack (and maybe more?). And, that's about futurism and transhumanism. Keep that in mind when you read anything on his primary Substack.

And, he's got "subverticals" within that. On one of them? This, which both approaches conspiracy theory and shows that he's got an ultimately Eurocentric view of history.

But first, the conspiracy theory part:

Without losing ourselves down the rabbit hole, we can say that Milner and his cohort—the likes of which included Lord Nathaniel Rothschild, Cecil Rhodes, and every other influential baron and titan of the day—orchestrated conflicts from the Boer War to WW1 to advance their stake

Uh, no, dude. Gavrilo Princip, from a Serbian "emerging state" that was still 50 percent pig farmers, wasn't controlled by any of those people.

That alone, let alone the "futurism and transhumanism" at the second Substack, makes me wonder how much of it is background to his primary.

Just a few tidbits beyond that.

One? I think he's one of those war porn type dudes, per his May 7 "sitrep" update, which has a number of war porn videos, the ones with the repeated use of zooming crosshairs, the war porn version of 1990s porno-techno music and so on. 

Related? Besides the war porn music being dubbed in, how much editing is done on these videos? (Ditto for ones posted by blank-check pro-Ukrainian bloggers, Shitters, etc.)

Two? On talking about Russian offenses/counteroffenses (or Ukrainian ones, for that matter) none of his maps ever have a distance scale. "Glorious" offenses covering just yards/meters rather than miles/kilometers ain't all that. That's why claims in the header of this piece about "major frontline breakthrough" should be taken with major grains of salt.

Three, to give some flowers, his piece on North Korean support for Russia, and the quality of both soldiers and kit, confirms what I recently wrote. 

Fourth, his politics? Supporting the broad outlines of Trumpism while saying his Cabinet and Cabinet parallel staff is still too much "swamp players," as he does here, is a hand-tipper. (You hit the paywall at that point, so I can't write more.) Call him a non-isolationist paleoconservative on foreign policy, especially the more "muscular" parts of it. I have never seen him write about domestic policy issues, so can't tell you. 

And, I didn't think about his Substack (and Shitter) name before. I'm wondering if it's an homage to the Neoplatonist philosopher? That might partially explain some of the stuff on the second Substack. As well as his primary Substack. So does the war porn, etc.

He's got one foot, at least, in the tech dudebro world. But, is he someone disenchanted? Someone who got squeezed out? He seems to have edges of dystopianism.

Updates on the "new" Southwest

The "new Southwest" has unveiled what will happen after May 28 in some cases, next year on others.

First, the whole front half of the plane will have some sort of premium seat pricing. This won't start being sold until the second half of this year and won't go into effect until 2026.

Second, the "basic" tier will have a NON-transferable credit, should you change flights, and it will expire in 6 months, not 1 year. So, if you "jump" on basic fares, be forewarned.

Related to that? I've heard that these fares will be offered at the start of new dates for a flight route, to judge demand to set variable pricing after that.

Third? And most sneaky? This is NOT NOT NOT something MORE basic than the current bottom-line "Wanna Get Away," it IS that, just renamed. 

Fourth, joining Rapid Rewards will not itself help you with your bag costs. But? If you buy a Rapid Rewards credit card, one of you bags fly free. And, "buy" is the term; most basic consumer card has a $69 annual fee.

So, unless you fly more than 2x a year on vacations of one full week or more, getting the card probably isn't worth it, especially if your current primary card is some sort of cashback / rewards card.