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It seems pointless, difficult and dangerous all at the same time to try to police our speech and writing. Some things have benign usage that is not harming any

It seems pointless, difficult and dangerous all at the same time to try to police our speech and writing. Some things have benign usage that is not harming anyone or any group of people and convey the intended meaning better than alternative words.

bheadmaster 4y ago
I think there's a difference between police-ing speech, and clarifying it. Language is hard, and misunderstandings are surprisingly common, and many world's evils comes from pure misunderstanding. Most misunderstandings arise from people having different understanding of same words - so approaching agreement on the meaning of words is important to reduce misunderstandings. The problem is the language is self-manifesting - the word gains the meaning from the way people use it, even when the meaning differs from the original (perhaps academic or technical) meaning. So one side has to stand back - either academia (in this case, psychiatry), or the general population. Since academia largely relies on solid, defined meanings of words, while the general population relies on "how other people are currently using it", it's supposed to be easier to change the usage by the general population. Although it's pretty hard to do both ways. Otherwise, we end up with words having two distinct meanings, one professional, and other layman.
- mantas 4y ago
  - harimau777 4y ago
    Due to the second law of thermodynamics, all work is neverending wack-a-mole. That in of itself doesn't mean that the work is useless.
  - eckza 4y ago
    On some level I agree; however, this article in particular is not a collection of virtue signals. If I have failed to see how this is not the case, I would appreciate some examples.
  - astrange 4y ago
    Virtue signalling is a good thing and an essential part of leadership.
    - bheadmaster 4y ago
      Why do you see virtue signalling as a good thing? What good comes from empty posturing?
      - astrange 4y ago
        Leaders obviously aren’t required to personally do the things they ask you to do. An army where the general dies in battle isn’t a good army.
        bheadmaster 4y ago
        I extremely disagree. Leaders that don't lead by example aren't real leaders, but demagouges and deceivers. To become a general, you must first be a soldier.
        astrange 4y ago
        That's not how generals work, they go to officer school, don't they? Actually I don't think "virtue signalling" implies "doesn't do it themselves". Vegans who go around telling everyone they're vegan generally don't secretly eat meat.
ebiester 4y ago
However, this is a list for students, teachers, and researchers, and within that context, precision is important. This group of terms in the article is not about policing - something like "crazy" or "schizophrenic". It's about technical terminology within that particular context. It also was a good article about the problems behind the mental model.
- leetrout 4y ago
  To pick one example, I don't think expanding the use of fetish to include an obsessive and fanatic interest of things outside sexual desire is bad. But I also do not write academic / published papers.
lofatdairy 4y ago
Did you read the article? Because even with a cursory scroll would you find that it's clearly not about policing speech. For example: > (22) p = 0.000. Even though this statistical expression, used in over 97,000 manuscripts according to Google Scholar, makes regular cameo appearances in our computer printouts, we should assiduously avoid inserting it in our Results sections. This expression implies erroneously that there is a zero probability that the investigators have committed a Type I error Oh no. Big bad PC culture is stopping us from stating fallacious statistical conclusions. Please don't dilute the quality of discussions on this site by posting reactionary nonsense before even reading something to which you're responding.
- annyeonghada 4y ago
  Your comment diluted the "discourse" more that the "reactionary nonsense" given that the first thing you do is using snark to signal that yiu are in the "cool tribe".

bheadmaster 4y ago

I think there's a difference between police-ing speech, and clarifying it. Language is hard, and misunderstandings are surprisingly common, and many world's evils comes from pure misunderstanding. Most misunderstandings arise from people having different understanding of same words - so approaching agreement on the meaning of words is important to reduce misunderstandings. The problem is the language is self-manifesting - the word gains the meaning from the way people use it, even when the meaning differs from the original (perhaps academic or technical) meaning. So one side has to stand back - either academia (in this case, psychiatry), or the general population. Since academia largely relies on solid, defined meanings of words, while the general population relies on "how other people are currently using it", it's supposed to be easier to change the usage by the general population. Although it's pretty hard to do both ways. Otherwise, we end up with words having two distinct meanings, one professional, and other layman.

mantas 4y ago
- harimau777 4y ago
  Due to the second law of thermodynamics, all work is neverending wack-a-mole. That in of itself doesn't mean that the work is useless.
- eckza 4y ago
  On some level I agree; however, this article in particular is not a collection of virtue signals. If I have failed to see how this is not the case, I would appreciate some examples.
- astrange 4y ago
  Virtue signalling is a good thing and an essential part of leadership.
  - bheadmaster 4y ago
    Why do you see virtue signalling as a good thing? What good comes from empty posturing?
    - astrange 4y ago
      Leaders obviously aren’t required to personally do the things they ask you to do. An army where the general dies in battle isn’t a good army.
      - bheadmaster 4y ago
        I extremely disagree. Leaders that don't lead by example aren't real leaders, but demagouges and deceivers. To become a general, you must first be a soldier.
        astrange 4y ago
        That's not how generals work, they go to officer school, don't they? Actually I don't think "virtue signalling" implies "doesn't do it themselves". Vegans who go around telling everyone they're vegan generally don't secretly eat meat.

ebiester 4y ago

However, this is a list for students, teachers, and researchers, and within that context, precision is important. This group of terms in the article is not about policing - something like "crazy" or "schizophrenic". It's about technical terminology within that particular context. It also was a good article about the problems behind the mental model.

leetrout 4y ago
To pick one example, I don't think expanding the use of fetish to include an obsessive and fanatic interest of things outside sexual desire is bad. But I also do not write academic / published papers.

lofatdairy 4y ago

Did you read the article? Because even with a cursory scroll would you find that it's clearly not about policing speech. For example: > (22) p = 0.000. Even though this statistical expression, used in over 97,000 manuscripts according to Google Scholar, makes regular cameo appearances in our computer printouts, we should assiduously avoid inserting it in our Results sections. This expression implies erroneously that there is a zero probability that the investigators have committed a Type I error Oh no. Big bad PC culture is stopping us from stating fallacious statistical conclusions. Please don't dilute the quality of discussions on this site by posting reactionary nonsense before even reading something to which you're responding.

annyeonghada 4y ago
Your comment diluted the "discourse" more that the "reactionary nonsense" given that the first thing you do is using snark to signal that yiu are in the "cool tribe".