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Try googling "why latinx" and reading up on it. It's deeper than just gender-neutrality, and it's not just about being "sensical". Some here will dismiss it bec

Try googling "why latinx" and reading up on it. It's deeper than just gender-neutrality, and it's not just about being "sensical". Some here will dismiss it because there are political aspects to the choice. But I assume most people who comment on Hacker News under self-determined pseudonyms can respect the desire and the right of people to come up with labels for referring to themselves that make sense to them, whatever the reason is.

toomanybeersies 8y ago
I read a few articles, and I can understand the viewpoint about how using latino and latina can be seen as problematic. I understood that before. But I don't understand why we don't just drop the o/a at the end and use "Latin". No article seems to explain this, and nobody here in HN has explained it either. I'm not trying to be argumentative for the sake of it, I genuinely don't understand what's wrong with simply using "Latin", which would be linguistically more correct in English, and also a contraction of "Latin American". Maybe there's some cultural nuance I'm missing, as I'm not American. All the Latin American people I know identify as being from their home country (mostly Argentina and Chile), rather than Latin American anyway. The whole Latino/Latina/Latinx thing seems to be some Pan-Latin American thing for US residents, trying to amalgamate a whole continent into a single cultural identity.
- clappski 8y ago
  As another non-American, the ‘Latin America’ thing stinks of the ‘Oriental’ label that used to be applied to anyone from Far East Asia in the UK. I don’t understand why they aren’t just ‘South Americans’ or are addressed by their national identity, as they are in the UK. (Of course, if the south/Central Americans want a shared ‘Latinx’ identity then good for them, this comment is more about how Americans (the ones from the USA) refer to them.)
rezistik 8y ago
Could you provide the link? I'm willing to google it but I'd like to get the best article and it sounds like you're knowledgeable about this subject.
eezurr 8y ago
I've read the first two results on google and it appears it's strictly related to gender-neutrality. As far as respecting the desires and rights of people who come up with labels for (more than) themselves... I can't. Someone demanding me to blanket treat an entire culture is dehumanizing every interaction with a person from that culture (and it makes each interaction tainted with ideology). I also can't respect someone who thinks they have the right to speak for an "identity" that crosses many cultures and national boarders, or contains millions of people. [1] Let's reverse the roles. Would you feel comfortable if a white activist (assuming you are white) you do not know, who has never spoken to you before, and comes from a different country or background than you, is demanding the country/world to treat or label you a specific way? What if it was a male? Or female? Or Catholic or atheist? Democratic or republican? Blue collared or white collared? Has children, or doesn't? [1] [1][1] A single word can be heavily loaded from a political or justice oriented ideology, and cause people to subconsciously distance themselves from people they interact with due to subconsciously projecting that ideology. /rant.
- jakelazaroff 8y ago
  > Someone demanding me to blanket treat an entire culture is dehumanizing every interaction with a person from that culture (and it makes each interaction tainted with ideology). Sure, but doesn't that apply to every such label? Latinx is the "controversial" term and Latino/a are the "accepted" ones, but that's just because we're having this discussion now; surely further back in history Latino/a were just as unfamiliar as Latinx is today. Put another way: what label is not arbitrarily decided by pleas from some subset of that group and/or popular usage?

toomanybeersies 8y ago

I read a few articles, and I can understand the viewpoint about how using latino and latina can be seen as problematic. I understood that before. But I don't understand why we don't just drop the o/a at the end and use "Latin". No article seems to explain this, and nobody here in HN has explained it either. I'm not trying to be argumentative for the sake of it, I genuinely don't understand what's wrong with simply using "Latin", which would be linguistically more correct in English, and also a contraction of "Latin American". Maybe there's some cultural nuance I'm missing, as I'm not American. All the Latin American people I know identify as being from their home country (mostly Argentina and Chile), rather than Latin American anyway. The whole Latino/Latina/Latinx thing seems to be some Pan-Latin American thing for US residents, trying to amalgamate a whole continent into a single cultural identity.

clappski 8y ago
As another non-American, the ‘Latin America’ thing stinks of the ‘Oriental’ label that used to be applied to anyone from Far East Asia in the UK. I don’t understand why they aren’t just ‘South Americans’ or are addressed by their national identity, as they are in the UK. (Of course, if the south/Central Americans want a shared ‘Latinx’ identity then good for them, this comment is more about how Americans (the ones from the USA) refer to them.)

rezistik 8y ago

Could you provide the link? I'm willing to google it but I'd like to get the best article and it sounds like you're knowledgeable about this subject.

eezurr 8y ago

I've read the first two results on google and it appears it's strictly related to gender-neutrality. As far as respecting the desires and rights of people who come up with labels for (more than) themselves... I can't. Someone demanding me to blanket treat an entire culture is dehumanizing every interaction with a person from that culture (and it makes each interaction tainted with ideology). I also can't respect someone who thinks they have the right to speak for an "identity" that crosses many cultures and national boarders, or contains millions of people. [1] Let's reverse the roles. Would you feel comfortable if a white activist (assuming you are white) you do not know, who has never spoken to you before, and comes from a different country or background than you, is demanding the country/world to treat or label you a specific way? What if it was a male? Or female? Or Catholic or atheist? Democratic or republican? Blue collared or white collared? Has children, or doesn't? [1] [1][1] A single word can be heavily loaded from a political or justice oriented ideology, and cause people to subconsciously distance themselves from people they interact with due to subconsciously projecting that ideology. /rant.

jakelazaroff 8y ago
> Someone demanding me to blanket treat an entire culture is dehumanizing every interaction with a person from that culture (and it makes each interaction tainted with ideology). Sure, but doesn't that apply to every such label? Latinx is the "controversial" term and Latino/a are the "accepted" ones, but that's just because we're having this discussion now; surely further back in history Latino/a were just as unfamiliar as Latinx is today. Put another way: what label is not arbitrarily decided by pleas from some subset of that group and/or popular usage?