I have noticed a particular trend among regressive leftist social justice ideologues that not many people, even their critics, have noticed or is commenting on.
I already noted in a past block post, "Where do babies come from, progressive edition", how the book "What makes a baby" uses the word "body" instead of the word "person" (or "man", or "woman", or any other humanizing word.)
This is not just a fringe oddity in this one particular book. I have noticed that trend in many other places as well. Consider for example, the infamous article in The New York Times: I Broke Up With Her Because She's White.
That article is all kinds of messed up, and hundreds and hundreds of people have commented on it, and how it reflects the absolutely horrendous state and racism of the regressive left. I have never bothered writing a blog post about it because so many other people have done that already. However, I would like to point out something that not many others have. Consider these excerpts:
The use of the word "body" instead of the word "person" is actually pretty common among "woke" regressives. These are not isolated rare instances.
I can't help but notice how utterly dehumanizing that practice is. People are not "people" anymore. They are "bodies".
This isn't even a question of not wanting to "assume gender" by saying "man" or "woman", because "person" and "people" are a perfectly valid gender-neutral words, and there's nothing wrong about them (and I'm not aware of any regressive leftist academic, or anybody, claiming that there would be).
Also notice how they are not just using that word to describe others; they are actively using it to describe themselves. It's almost like they don't even consider themselves people anymore, but just "bodies".
Why this dehumanization? I think it's part of the cult mentality of social justice ideology. That ideology wants to remove the sense of individuality from people. Social justice not only divides people into groups based on external characteristics and treats them differently based on which such group they belong to, but moreover it wants those people to think of themselves as being an inherent and inseparable part of that group, rather than distinct individuals with their own unique characteristics. In social justice you are not an individual, a person, unique, with your own distinct and unique characteristics, personality and opinions. You are just a member of a group, instrinsically tied to that group, and indistinguishable from it. You are not an individual. You are not a "person". You are a "body".
"Personhood" would indicate individuality. "Body" just makes you part of a group of similar "bodies". Your "body" defines you. You are what your "body" is, and your body is the same as other people with similar bodies. You are what you look like. If your body looks the same as another, then you are part of that group. You are the same.
This kind of cult indoctrination can not only be detrimental to its members, but it can in fact be quite dangerous in the long run. What happens when people's humanity and sense of individuality and personhood is removed from them? Well, alongside can go, for example, their fundamental right to life. If they aren't individual people, just "bodies", what rights do they have? People become like cells of a larger entity. And what happens to cells that don't obey the commands of the group? Like cancer cells, they ought to be removed and killed.
I already noted in a past block post, "Where do babies come from, progressive edition", how the book "What makes a baby" uses the word "body" instead of the word "person" (or "man", or "woman", or any other humanizing word.)
This is not just a fringe oddity in this one particular book. I have noticed that trend in many other places as well. Consider for example, the infamous article in The New York Times: I Broke Up With Her Because She's White.
That article is all kinds of messed up, and hundreds and hundreds of people have commented on it, and how it reflects the absolutely horrendous state and racism of the regressive left. I have never bothered writing a blog post about it because so many other people have done that already. However, I would like to point out something that not many others have. Consider these excerpts:
"Yes, our bodies have been colonized. Yes, I am a child of blackness. Yes, the black body has done more for society than it has gotten in return."Notice how he doesn't say "black people", but "the black body", and how he doesn't refer to himself as "a brown person", but as "a brown body".
"Anyway, what am I supposed to do? How do I love as a brown body in the world in a way that makes everybody happy?"
The use of the word "body" instead of the word "person" is actually pretty common among "woke" regressives. These are not isolated rare instances.
I can't help but notice how utterly dehumanizing that practice is. People are not "people" anymore. They are "bodies".
This isn't even a question of not wanting to "assume gender" by saying "man" or "woman", because "person" and "people" are a perfectly valid gender-neutral words, and there's nothing wrong about them (and I'm not aware of any regressive leftist academic, or anybody, claiming that there would be).
Also notice how they are not just using that word to describe others; they are actively using it to describe themselves. It's almost like they don't even consider themselves people anymore, but just "bodies".
Why this dehumanization? I think it's part of the cult mentality of social justice ideology. That ideology wants to remove the sense of individuality from people. Social justice not only divides people into groups based on external characteristics and treats them differently based on which such group they belong to, but moreover it wants those people to think of themselves as being an inherent and inseparable part of that group, rather than distinct individuals with their own unique characteristics. In social justice you are not an individual, a person, unique, with your own distinct and unique characteristics, personality and opinions. You are just a member of a group, instrinsically tied to that group, and indistinguishable from it. You are not an individual. You are not a "person". You are a "body".
"Personhood" would indicate individuality. "Body" just makes you part of a group of similar "bodies". Your "body" defines you. You are what your "body" is, and your body is the same as other people with similar bodies. You are what you look like. If your body looks the same as another, then you are part of that group. You are the same.
This kind of cult indoctrination can not only be detrimental to its members, but it can in fact be quite dangerous in the long run. What happens when people's humanity and sense of individuality and personhood is removed from them? Well, alongside can go, for example, their fundamental right to life. If they aren't individual people, just "bodies", what rights do they have? People become like cells of a larger entity. And what happens to cells that don't obey the commands of the group? Like cancer cells, they ought to be removed and killed.
Comments
Post a Comment