Why you should NOT use people's "preferred pronouns"

Far-leftists, especially those who are enamored with roleplaying all kinds of "sexual orientations" (and who have a gazillion made-up neo-words to compartmentalize their very specific brand of it), also love to come up with all kinds of "preferred pronouns".

Unfortunately far-leftism has got such a strong hold in western society, especially in the United States and the UK, that there are more and more places where these "preferred pronouns" are being displayed among people's names. In fact, there are already some organizations that pretty much force their employees to announce their "preferred pronouns" in their private and public information, wherever their names appear. (Recently there was a controversy when a long-time worker of a big charity organization in the UK was asked to add her "preferred pronouns" to her bio, and she, being something like a 70-years-old woman and not being up to date with the latest fads, asked what it was all about, and she was fired from her position in the organization for merely asking these questions. She was later reinstated, but only after public outrage. I'm certain that hidden from the public scrutiny there are probably hundreds if not thousands of examples that never get such public outrage and thus are never rectified.)

Whenever these people, as well as the far-leftist activists who strongly promote this, are challenged on the whole thing, they present the excuse of it just being "polite" and "civil" to call people with the names and pronouns that they prefer.

But, of course, that's not true. If it were merely a question of "politeness" then they would just ask "could you please refer to me as (insert random pronouns here)?" and if you refuse they would just say "ok, you are a jerk, I'm going now" and avoid you. But, obviously that's not what happens, especially if they have more activists present to back them up: They start harassing you, making demands, call you names and, depending on the situation, try to to ruin your life (eg. by trying to get you fired or whatever they come up with.)

But this is exactly the reason why you should NOT use people's "preferred pronouns" if they differ from what is very obvious. If a woman demands that she be referred to as "they", feel free to use "she" instead.

It's a matter of principle: What they are trying to do with these demands and the intimidation is control your speech. They are trying to force you to use certain words and speak in a certain manner, whether you want or not, lest there be consequences for you. In other words, they are trying to control you and trample over your fundamental right to free speech, by controlling what you say and what not to say.

This is not acceptable. Nobody should be able to dictate what words you can and cannot say, for the fear of punishment and consequences. If you don't use the words they want, they are free to consider you a jerk and avoid you, but that's the extent of it. If they start pressuring you and intimidate you to use the words by the threat of severe consequences, that's where the line as been crossed.

Refusing to use the words that they demand you to use, at the threat of punishment, is fighting for your fundamental rights. It's refusing to be subjugated and intimidated. It's the principle of "I'd rather die standing that live on my knees." If you don't fight for your rights, you are going to lose them. Oppressors will take them away and subjugate you to their whims.