Delete comment from: Ken Shirriff's blog
The history, facts and research presented here are both fascinating and informative - I'm genuinely thankful for that. I'm always happy to learn more about a subject I'd only glossed over so far, and to have my casual misconceptions corrected. But as to your conclusion (and the very title of the article) - that would be an emphatic "no", thank you.
If we're going to stop using certain expressions because they're applied in a misleading and glaringly inaccurate) manner, there are some far more obvious - and odious - candidates to start with. Like that rapidly-multiplying profusion of terms ending in "-ism", "-phobia", and other such delibrate manipulations, commonly thrown around by those who insist that we continously check ourselves and modify our very language and behavior only to satisfy their control/power issues.
Perhaps the true "cargo cult" (in the pop-culture sense) is exactly that - the vast resources and verbiage expended on futile, misguided attempts to do good via symbolic gestures and the incessant policing and haranguing of others, despite the complete lack of evidence for any actual problems being solved or even mitigated as a result. Except that this is far worse than a case of amusing misunderstanding - it has already caused untold damage and is poised for much, much more.
Jan 13, 2025, 10:45:23 AM