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What freedoms are being disregarded? You're allowed to call it "the Ukraine" if you want, the callout is just that the country prefers otherwise. This is like

What freedoms are being disregarded? You're allowed to call it "the Ukraine" if you want, the callout is just that the country prefers otherwise. This is like someone clarifying their name is pronounced "Marie" instead of "Mary". You are free to mispronounce their name still. Or with non-English location names, like Piñar or Türkiye. Your rights to spell them "Pinar" or "Turkey" are not trampled in any way.

RobertRoberts 4y ago
Come back to this comment in a few years and I am fairly confident they will be considered racist or "evil" or a micro-agression to spell or say these things you say we are free to say. Sure, we are "free" to say them. The only time to fight against these things is when they are small, like now.
- robotresearcher 4y ago
  You are currently absolutely free to refer to the State of New York as New York Colony, and New York City as New Amsterdam. That's not how the residents refer to their own state or city, of course, but they can't tell you what to do. Assuming you do not, why not?
- gameman144 4y ago
  This isn't an issue of rights, though, it's an issue of culture and respect. I actually agree with you that it'd be unreasonable to consistently have to change the names of things, but this is 100% not an issue of whether you're allowed to call things by different names. I think there's a balance to be struck between respecting the names which certain groups prefer, and that's the hard part of society: you might spell your name "Анастасия", and I think it's fine to Anglicize that as "Anastasia". Someone else might prefer not to have to change their name, though. Likewise, grammar and what words are considered valid are constantly shifting. I actually agree with you that "I want to use this name because this is the name that has historically been used" is a valid reason and valid preference! Figuring out how to balance all these preferences is a hard problem. Fortunately, though, the right to call things what you want is absolutely not in question for these scenarios. If there were talk of banning certain references to things, I'd be in the same camp as you, but that's not a problem we're facing today.

RobertRoberts 4y ago

Come back to this comment in a few years and I am fairly confident they will be considered racist or "evil" or a micro-agression to spell or say these things you say we are free to say. Sure, we are "free" to say them. The only time to fight against these things is when they are small, like now.

robotresearcher 4y ago
You are currently absolutely free to refer to the State of New York as New York Colony, and New York City as New Amsterdam. That's not how the residents refer to their own state or city, of course, but they can't tell you what to do. Assuming you do not, why not?
gameman144 4y ago
This isn't an issue of rights, though, it's an issue of culture and respect. I actually agree with you that it'd be unreasonable to consistently have to change the names of things, but this is 100% not an issue of whether you're allowed to call things by different names. I think there's a balance to be struck between respecting the names which certain groups prefer, and that's the hard part of society: you might spell your name "Анастасия", and I think it's fine to Anglicize that as "Anastasia". Someone else might prefer not to have to change their name, though. Likewise, grammar and what words are considered valid are constantly shifting. I actually agree with you that "I want to use this name because this is the name that has historically been used" is a valid reason and valid preference! Figuring out how to balance all these preferences is a hard problem. Fortunately, though, the right to call things what you want is absolutely not in question for these scenarios. If there were talk of banning certain references to things, I'd be in the same camp as you, but that's not a problem we're facing today.