Society/Culture Words should be made official

[Seeds]

I think we can start improving the world by doing a test case and making official meanings of words for the big footy SRP board. If someone is using a word incorrectly point out the official definition as defined here so debates dont go around in circles and we can move on.

i will start:

racism: discrimination based on race (it doesnt matter what race or the privledge situation. its just discrimination based on race).

please add definitions of other words.

note: until its official there is no real definition of words so dont complain if you don't like someone elses definition. if it doesnt capture a piece of information you want to pass on then come up with your own word with the definition that you want and we can add it to the list. I.e. if you dont like my definition of racism and want your own then put it here but call it something else. Like "racism2".

i think this will dramatically improve the board.

mods. Sticky this thread.

 

[Evolved1]

The official meaning of 'seeds' is delusional.

 

[Seeds]

The official meaning of 'seeds' is delusional.

Two words down. Three if we count FKS. Lets keep this rolling.

 

[Shane Heard]

What a typical Karen type thread...

 

[Frank Bunn]

I think we can start improving the world by doing a test case and making official meanings of words for the big footy SRP board. If someone is using a word incorrectly point out the official definition as defined here so debates dont go around in circles and we can move on.

i will start:

racism: discrimination based on race (it doesnt matter what race or the privledge situation. its just discrimination based on race).

please add definitions of other words.

note: until its official there is no real definition of words so dont complain if you don't like someone elses definition. if it doesnt capture a piece of information you want to pass on then come up with your own word with the definition that you want and we can add it to the list. I.e. if you dont like my definition of racism and want your own then put it here but call it something else. Like "racism2".

i think this will dramatically improve the board.

mods. Sticky this thread.

discrimination : recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.

Therefore all Australian government policies that discriminate between indigenous and non-indigenous are racist.

 

[Seeds]

discrimination : recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.

Therefore all Australian government policies that discriminate between indigenous and non-indigenous are racist.

well done. You figured out the circularity problem in definition.

there is an additional rule to deal with this before all words are defined. if someone redefines the defintion of a word someone else has put up then the original person gets to change it.

discrimination2 : treating things differently because of a difference in a characteristic.

the defintion of racism has now been changed to incorporate "descrimination2" instead of "discrimination"

 

[ShanDog]

Please re-read 1984.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Please re-read 1984.

Totalitarian state regimes such as China and North Korea control what views can be expressed. In the West we are seeing privately owned global social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter setting themselves up as moral arbiters of what can be expressed. How should that be regulated?

Newspeak is state control of vocabulary. I don't think we are seeing that.

Control of vocabulary is more due to social pressure as a result of changes in preferred use of terminology by minority or victim groups. Benedict Cumberbatch got in trouble for referring to 'coloured actors' when apparently the preferred current phrase is 'actors of colour'. He had to utter the utter the usual OTT apologies to be forgiven for his 'crime'. In Australia we have seen people offended by the use of the terms blacks, Aborigine or Indigenous when many people who belong to those groups identify as such.

 

[Seeds]

Please re-read 1984.

I would like to see how you try and justify determining meanings for words with totalitarianism? Please try.

dont confuse words with actions.

having better knowledge transfer actually reduces the likelihood that democracies could sucumb to dictatorships.

 

[ShanDog]

I would like to see how you try and justify derving meanings for words with totalitarianism? Please try.

Orwell did it better than I could.

 

[Seeds]

Orwell did it better than I could.

Please show it

 

[ShanDog]

Please show it

The book. Read the book.

 

[Seeds]

The book. Read the book.

in other words you cant make the argument yourself.

For one, orwells book is fiction. Its not scientific analysis. Its a worry when peoples views about the world are derived solely from fiction. Orwell has got a lot wrong.

and in 1984 the amount of words are constrained or banned to control the formation of ideas. im not advoating banning of words. Just agreeing upon meanings of words where they are vague for specific purposes like contracts, academia, defamation complaints Etc. If there is no word for a specific meaning then people can make them up. there is no control over the expression of things or behaviours or ideas. Just a more accurate way of describing them. In fact when words have vague meanings we lose the ability to communicate ideas. This is to help with that.

 

[ShanDog]

in other words you cant make the argument yourself.

I teach English to high school kids. I can send you my unit plans for the text if you like. Sorry I didn't have the time to go into great detail - I do have other things on.

For one, orwells book is fiction. Its not scientific analysis. Its a worry when peoples views about the world are derived solely from fiction. Orwell has got a lot wrong.

Solely? You straw man. I'd love to know what you think Orwell got wrong, especially as you derided it due to being fiction. Further, how does he get a lot wrong if it's fiction, and why would that be important?

and in 1984 the amount of words are constrained or banned to control the formation of ideas. im not advoating banning of words. Just agreeing upon meanings of words where they are vague for specific purposes like contracts, academia, defamation complaints Etc. If there is no word for a specific meaning then people can make them up. there is no control over the expression of things or behaviours or ideas. Just a more accurate way of describing them. In fact when words have vague meanings we lose the ability to communicate ideas. This is to help with that.

What you said here does not reflect your OP which advocates a far more officious method of controlling what words mean (a very strong theme within 1984, hence more than a couple of posters acknowledged the similarities):

i believe that for the sake of law and academic reports and public debates and our sanity there should be a universally decreed definition of words. a government panel should be set up to define the meaning of words and decree them as the official legal meaning. Offcial dictionarys can then be made available to everyone. This would result in a much more improved system of knowledge transfer.