# You know what I hate? How the word empowerment lost its original use and context **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 28, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678 "2018-01-28T21:44:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/61 "2018-01-29T00:24:21Z")
Child sex slavery is not that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/62 "2018-01-29T00:28:38Z")
Here’s my suggestion - it’s worth what you paid for it. Listen more, talk less. Internalize that your experience is only your own, and that everyone has their own experience as well. If you can appreciate that your views have developed over time, imagine that same thing happening for everyone around you over a timespan greater than your lifespan, and act with a sense of humility. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/63 "2018-01-29T00:38:41Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > Here’s my suggestion - it’s worth what you paid for it. Listen more, talk less. Internalize that your experience is only your own, and that everyone has their own experience as well. If you can appreciate that your views have developed over time, imagine that same thing happening for everyone around you over a timespan greater than your lifespan, and act with a sense of humility. If the site featured a like feature, I would love to like this 100 times. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/64 "2018-01-29T00:54:26Z")
Luciano, what do you think about those monster housecats and their dangerous knife claws? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/65 "2018-01-29T01:04:54Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > Here’s my suggestion - it’s worth what you paid for it. Listen more, talk less. Internalize that your experience is only your own, and that everyone has their own experience as well. If you can appreciate that your views have developed over time, imagine that same thing happening for everyone around you over a timespan greater than your lifespan, and act with a sense of humility. > [@Luciano700](#): > > If the site featured a like feature, I would love to like this 100 times. You could link to it in your .sig line, and show us in future posts that you’re taking its content to heart. That would be a much more meaningful demonstration of your liking for it than would a facile “thumbs up.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/66 "2018-01-29T01:29:56Z")
Wow, we have so much to learn from him – gosh, he’s been around the forum universe for FIVE YEARS, yinz!!! Wow! Sixteen years on this planet, think of all he’s experienced! Think of the wisdom he’s gained! > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > You’re like a child trying to speak like an adult. But it’s soooo cute when they do that. > [@Luciano700](#): > > What did I miss ablut the article? How about: > [@](#): > > _Reported_ is the key word. Just because a school had no rape reports doesn’t mean no rapes happened. > > AAUW’s findings very likely do not reflect the true state of sexual violence among college students, since a majority of incidents go unreported. In fact, a 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that 80% of student victims don’t report their rape or sexual assault to police, based on data from 1995–2013. > > Still, the 2015 AAUW report isn’t as rosy as the previous year’s. In 2014, 91% of schools reported zero rapes, based on annual crime data disclosed by more than 11,000 colleges and universities. > [@](#): > > More than one in five students said they had experienced sexual abuse, along with physical abuse and threats of physical violence, a 2011 survey by Fifth & Pacific and Knowledge Networks of more than 500 college young adults aged 18-29 found. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/67 "2018-01-29T01:36:44Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’m a fan of his support for the abolition of slavery, which was somewhat rare in early America, but I don’t agree with every single one of his views. Hamilton wasn’t particularly a strong abolitionist. He may have owned slaves himself, and, while he sporadically attended a manumission society, wasn’t particularly active in it. He certainly didn’t have any problem buying and selling slaves for his in-laws. It’s probably better to say that Hamilton wasn’t a big advocate of slavery, but that he wasn’t a big opponent of it either, when his respect for personal property and his desire to socially climb and associate with the well to do conflicted with the questions of rights for slaves, he leaned towards the former. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/68 "2018-01-29T04:07:27Z")
Well thread got out of context quickly Anyways, I am sorry if I coming off very un-inforned and naive and impressionable. I just want to get out of my chest the frustration I have with the rise of identity politics that’s going in our culture. And I feel attacking one side first, than the other is the only way to fight the polarization I feel. Everything’s being politicized, even our video games… I think social media and education can play a real big role here I say a good balance of both areas can help keep our communities strong. I say to hell the KKK, ISIS, feminism, MGTOW, BLM and a ton of other polarizing/irritating movements. We should all accept that competition and marginilazation and will gaining are big elements of human nature. On the other hand, we should always continue to care, adore and appreciate one another. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/69 "2018-01-29T04:16:00Z")
We all gotta look what’s good into ourselves. We all need to stop looking for ways to divide ourselves. We humans have such complex minds and can’t blame it. Every human regardless of self-esteem, race, gender, hobbies, political ideology, religion, ecomical class, mental condition, nationality or sexual orientation has something good to offer. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/70 "2018-01-29T04:24:13Z")
You should google the term “false equivalence.” I especially don’t see how you equate the Beauro of Land Management with a fertility goddess. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/71 "2018-01-29T04:30:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You should google the term “false equivalence.” > > I especially don’t see how you equate the Beauro of Land Management with a fertility goddess. Wait What? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/72 "2018-01-29T04:32:43Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > NO YOUTUBE VIDEOS. > > Link to actual published articles if you cannot support your arguments yourself but stop watching videos. Dennis Prager YouTube videos, no less. You may as well drink directly from the sewage plant drain pipe… ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/73 "2018-01-29T04:38:57Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Dennis Prager YouTube videos, no less. You may as well drink directly from the sewage plant drain pipe… Come on guys, I want to try to meet the rest of the community and get along. I mean what content isn’t biased these days? ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/74 "2018-01-29T04:45:17Z")
I guess the one way to control this is educate ourselves and ask ourselves if our beliefs, values and ideas are dangerous to others for example. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/75 "2018-01-29T04:50:50Z")
Aw, Cecil, can we keep him? He could be our mascot. We could dress him up and teach him tricks. It will be fun. As long as we share clean up duty, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/76 "2018-01-29T04:58:23Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Aw, Cecil, can we keep him? He could be our mascot. We could dress him up and teach him tricks. It will be fun. As long as we share clean up duty, I mean. Is this a quote from a show? Not getting it? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/77 "2018-01-29T04:59:25Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > Wait What? He’s teasing you. You said “to hell with” BLM and ISIS. While he knows you meant Black Lives Matter and the Islamist terrorist group, BLM is also an abbreviation for the Bureau of Land Management, and ISIS was an ancient Egyptian fertility goddess. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/78 "2018-01-29T05:03:14Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > He’s teasing you. You said “to hell with” BLM and ISIS. While he knows you meant Black Lives Matter and the Islamist terrorist group, BLM is also an abbreviation for the Bureau of Land Management, and ISIS was an ancient Egyptian fertility goddess. Oh got it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/79 "2018-01-29T05:03:16Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > Is this a quote from a show? Not getting it? She’s comparing you to a puppy, suggesting that like a puppy, you’re overly enthusiastic and kind of stupid. Cecil is Cecil Adams, the pseudonymous author of The Straight Dope, the trivia column this website and message board are affiliated with. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678/80 "2018-01-29T05:04:51Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > She’s comparing you to a puppy, suggesting that like a puppy, you’re overly enthusiastic and kind of stupid. Cecil is Cecil Adams, the pseudonymous author of The Straight Dope, the trivia column this website and message board are affiliated with. :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-what-i-hate-how-the-word-empowerment-lost-its-original-use-and-context/807678.md?page=5)