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The idea that "emasculate" was a bad word choice was a foolish media bandwagon. The secondary meaning of emasculate is "make weaker or less effective" and holdi
by theoh 11y ago
The idea that "emasculate" was a bad word choice was a foolish media bandwagon. The secondary meaning of emasculate is "make weaker or less effective" and holding a fragile and valuable object does do that...
- TillE 11y agoThat's not how language works. Words have implications and subtleties that go beyond a straightforward reading of a dictionary definition. Especially with that definition, you really can't escape the roots. It's just a metaphorical twist on the word.
- theoh 11y agoMany people think "a series of tubes" was a hilariously bad analogy for the internet too. It has always seemed reasonable to me, and some others. [1] Maybe I'm just too interested in actual communication rather than mockery. But "Be liberal in what you accept" etc. [1] https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/taking-stevens-seriously/ https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/taking-stevens-ser...
- astral303 11y agoThe difference is that "series of tubes" is merely wrong/silly/awkward/clueless, whereas "emasculation" reinforces decades of toxic masculinity, which is a societal ill.
- wavefunction 11y agoWell, it's a series, but also a collection at the same time, right? Unless you conceive of the internet as one long line of tubes connected one to the other (series) rather than a number of tubes, some connected in series but others running in parallel. That's the subtlety of language the parent was referring to.
- theoh 11y agoActually the original context is something like "the internet is not a big truck, it's a series of tubes" which makes it clear that he was referring to what was involved in sending data down a single connection. It would be absurd to infer that Stevens thought real-world truck haulage consisted of "one big truck" rather than a fleet.