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ThisSpaceAvailable comments on Terminology Thread (or "name that pattern") - Less Wrong Discussion

8 Post author: sixes_and_sevens 03 July 2014 11:47AM

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Comment author: ThisSpaceAvailable 15 July 2014 12:20:29AM -1 points [-]

There is a pattern that has several names already, but each is problematic:

liberal: has strong conflict between literal meaning (open, permissive), and actual meaning (corresponding to a largely arbitrary political clustering)

leftist: more abstract than "liberal", and thus without the literal meaning baggage, but tainted by its use by people on the right as a slur against anyone who opposes rightist extremism

political correctness: has been corrupted by its use to mean whatever a person wants it to mean, from anything to hypersensitivity to any sensitivity at all

feminazi: no explanation needed, I think

social justice: even more of a literal meaning conflict that "liberal". Strongly suggests that the issue actually is social justice, rather than mind-killing in ostensive service of social justice

social justice warrior: the best term I've seen, and the added "warrior" term helps convey the sense of irrationality, but still has much of the problems of "social justice".

I really wish there were some good term for the leftist flavor of anti-rationality. Calling them "social justice warrior" just invites the question "Why are you opposed to social justice?"

Comment author: bogus 15 July 2014 05:24:17AM 1 point [-]

I really wish there were some good term for the leftist flavor of anti-rationality.

There is one, and it's quite specific: Lysenkoism. If you mean something other than the historical movement based on Lysenko's theories, why not call it neo-Lysenkoism or something like that?