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Predictions for the near future, part 6

Continuing the theme of things that are already being done to some extent, but which will probably be taken to ridiculous extents in the near future.

Any common terms and expressions that have the word "white" in them with any sort of positive connotation, will be shunned. Likewise any such expression with the word "black" or "dark" with any sort of negative connotation.

For example, calls will be done to ban the expression "white Christmas". It doesn't matter that it's a synonym for "snowy Christmas" (ie. Christmas time with lots of snow and snowy weather, the "white" referring to the color of the snow), and it doesn't matter that everybody knows that the "white" is referring to snow, it will still be demanded to be banned. Social justice warriors cannot hear or see the word "white" in any kind of positive expression without getting triggered, no matter what the word is referring to, and thus it must be banned.

During the entire history of humanity darkness has always been a scary thing to humans. Fear of darkness is an innate instinct. It doesn't exactly help that the majority of crimes, as well as the majority of things that are generally considered degrading human activities, happen in the darkness of the night. This instinct is quite natural, given that we cannot see well in darkness (especially when we are in places without artificial lights, which was quite common tens of thousands of years ago) and thus it's easy to get feelings of claustrophobia, uncertainty and fear, when we can't see far, and we can't see what's happening in our surroundings, and we can't see what's making that scary noise... During bright daylight we could see predator animals from miles away, but during the darkness of the night such predators could sneak up on us without we even noticing.

It's thus no wonder that darkness, and in general the color black, is often associated with negative things. Horror fiction is largely themed on darkness. Sources of terror most often dwell in darkness, and during the night, and are seldom brightly colored or lit. (A common subversion of this trope is to have the source of horror to be clearly visible in bright daylight, but this is still a rarity.)

Thus it's also no wonder that many things that are negative use expressions like "dark" and "black". For example the stock market crash of 1929 is referred to as "Black Tuesday", and the one of 1987 is referred to as "Black Monday". (In general, "black (day of the week)" is commonly used, in many situations, to refer to a well-known catastrophe of some sort, sometimes seriously, sometimes affectionately.)

The term "black market" refers to illegal business transactions, often ones that avoid paying law-mandated taxes, or sell illegal goods.

In fiction and new age mythology "black magic" is associated with supernatural evil (while "white magic" is associated with supernatural good).

And, of course, in traditional romanticized stereotypical medieval fiction a "white knight" is a knight (or just a person) who is a hero and represents good, often literally wearing a white armor, while a "black" or "dark" knight (extremely often wearing a full black armor) is a powerful character that represents evil and villainy. Both expressions are often used in colloquialisms as well.

Sometimes even things where the color is used in a completely neutral manner, eg. because the thing being named is predominantly that color, will be shunned. The most prominent example of this is, of course, The White House.

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