# Normal is the new abnormal -- forbidden adjectives

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 9, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554 "2021-03-09T22:19:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 14

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/261 "2021-03-16T12:23:20Z")

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> [@Riemann](#):
>
> You appear to be arguing for an affirmative action program where if someone is a member of a historically marginalized group that has been the _target_ of bigotry, we should adopt a patronizing double standard in which we cannot expect their moral standards with respect to other marginalized groups to be quite so robust as _normal_ people.

This is a pretty important point to pull out: to the extent–the _only_ extent–that I’ve seen **Demontree** express any concern over racism, it’s in service of a campaign to deprive transgender folks of rights. She’s wielding the concept of racism as a cudgel against people who oppose her political stance on a completely different subject, and co-opting **monstro** and **ywtf** ’s story to support her position. She’s explaining to a person of color why they’re wrong to think this isn’t an example of racism. She’s turned a thread about fucking _shampoo labeling_ into an arena in which to relitigate her anti-transgender views: maybe people don’t oppose her because they’re misogynists, maybe it’s because they’re racist!

This cynical approach to conversations around racism is some pretty aggressive nonsense, and it’s a tricky thing to navigate without violating board rules. I’m having to watch what I post pretty carefully on this topic, and it’s in danger of becoming too toxic for me to remain without racking up a warning.

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**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/262 "2021-03-16T14:33:11Z")

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Nominal?

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**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/263 "2021-03-16T15:07:54Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No. It’s not like affirmative action, where you’re giving PoCs privileges for historic injustice. In this case you’re giving them just for the colour of their skin.

That’s exactly what anti-racism is. If each group isn’t equally represented, they need to be given privileges until they are. It doesn’t matter if it’s due to historic injustice or not, it’s axiomatic that inequity = racism and requires affirmative action to fix.

> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Alternatively, _by your own logic_ , if it is anti-racist, then it at least “Strongly resembles” racism, anyway.

Yes, I agree. It _would_ be racist to allow more latitude for POCs to break the rules, and I’m not proposing any such thing.

> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> We all know why they left. They were not a majority of, or even a plurality of, the PoC on this board. You can’t extrapolate from them to other PoCs just to suit your tired argument.

I was also thinking of **Bone** , who gave his reasons for leaving in a post (and it wasn’t racism), and **Damuri Ajashi** , who hasn’t actually left, but certainly dialled back his posting a lot.

But like I said, I can easily believe things were different in the past when racism was more tolerated.

[@everyone](https://boards.straightdope.com/groups/everyone) else, no it isn’t just about one issue. Everyone knows that most of the posters who don’t subscribe to prevailing ‘progressive’ view have either been banned or got fed up and left. I’m arguing that posters who do subscribe to that view are more likely to be white, which is a reasonable hypothesis that has some evidence in it’s favour.

> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> This is a pretty important point to pull out: to the extent–the _only_ extent–that I’ve seen **Demontree** express any concern over racism

That’s probably because you haven’t read the threads on woke racism in schools.

And yeah, this has gone wildly off topic. I’ve had to take several breaks myself and I regret ever posting. I’m fucking tired of typing one thing and having people claim I’m saying something completely different, and interpreting everything I say in the worst possible light. This is tribalism, where you can’t understand that there’s room for more than two views. Everything is Them or Us, and We’re good and perfect while They are evil. I’m not playing any more.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/264 "2021-03-16T15:09:54Z")

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This is getting overly personal and attack-y for MPTIMS. Everyone, please dial it back. That includes both accusing people of transphobia and accusing people of being blindly “woke”.

I’ll leave the thread open for a bit in case anyone has anything to add re relabeling shampoo, and related thoughts. But it may get closed soon.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/265 "2021-03-16T15:14:40Z")

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And I’m getting an add for some product to stop hair thinning. 🙂

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