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by didibus 3561 days ago
Your hypothetical doesn't apply. There's no way for you to know the subconscious impact in the long term that everything being referred with "she" would have on your interest in Veterinary work, if you did have one. It's not something you can mentally put yourself in, and know for sure it would not bother you.

Also, I think this was kind of apropos. Seems like the English language isn't using the right levels of abstractions. There should be a true gender neutral pronoun, one that should be used when the gender specificity isn't relevant and should be hidden away behind the pronoun's abstraction. Its just not something we're familiar with, and that's really the only problem. Its hard to force language on people, when everyone learns language effortlessly as they grow up, nobody is used to putting effort in how they talk.

1 comments

> Its just not something we're familiar with, and that's really the only problem. Its hard to force language on people, when everyone learns language effortlessly as they grow up, nobody is used to putting effort in how they talk.

I don't think that's the only problem here. Consider this story: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/08/03/student-facing-50-...

These sorts of situations are a direct result of the battle "to force language on people", and they are having a big effect on our society. Sethi paid a high cost for a single tweet that wasn't intended to be malicious in any way. And people who read such stories note this, and as a result feel like they must tread on eggshells, because, even though they aren't racist or sexist or any other ist, one small slip up may result in their entire education or career being put at risk.

A populous that is scared to say anything is much easier to control. And I think the powerful are going to get what they want with this. In a couple of decades, I think free speech will be a distant memory, and people like yourself will be questioning the future you helped bring about.