This is a work in progress that has barely begun.
accountability –
Big Brother – This term originated from George Orwell’s novel “1984” (published in 1948) in which the term referred both to the totalitarian government and to the individual man who served as dictator. The sense is conveyed that the man referred to as Big Brother may no longer be alive and actively ruling the government in the time-frame in which the story takes place but rather that the spectacle of such is generated by mandatory televised propaganda that are required viewing at work and in the home by way of telescreens which are televisions that allow Big Brother to watch people in their homes and make sure they do nothing forbidden such as keep a private diary (an illegal act of “ownlife”) or read forbidden literature.
biological essentialism –
capitalism –
cisgender –
cishet –
cisnormative –
classical liberalism –
collectivism –
color blindness – The term “color blindness” can refer to a lack of ability to perceive color to some degree or entirely (achromatopsia). More figuratively, “color blindness” is a quality that “color blind” people have. They don’t think of people in terms of “race”. According to some, however, it’s racist to be color blind.
It is the “belief that one should treat all persons equally, without regard to their race” according to “Critical Race Theory – An Introduction” by Delgado and Stefancic.
In their section headed “No One is Colorblind to Race”, the Smithsonian states…
“The concept of race is intimately connected to our lives and has serious implications. It operates in real and definitive ways that confer benefits and privileges to some and withholds them from others. Ignoring race means ignoring the establishment of racial hierarchies in society and the injustices these hierarchies have created and continue to reinforce. READ: “Children Are Not Colorblind: How Young Children Learn Race,” by Erin N. Winkler, Ph.D.”
Then, in their section on the “dangers of ignoring race” they write…
“Read this article, “When you say you ‘don’t see race,’ you’re ignoring racism, not helping to solve it.(link is external)
Reflection:
- What are some experiences or identities that are central to who you are? How do you feel when they are ignored or “not seen”?
- The author in this article points out how people often use nonvisual cues to determine race. What does this reveal to us about the validity of pretending not to see race?”
communism –
critical race theory (CRT) – In Critical Race Theory An Introduction, in the section headed, “What Is Critical Race Theory? “, authors Delgado and Stefancic write, “The critical race theory movement is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. The movement considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic studies discourses take up but places them in a broader perspective that includes economics, history, setting, group and self-interest, and emotions and the unconscious. Unlike traditional civil rights discourse, which stresses incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.” [source: Critical Race Theory An Introduction by Delgado and Stefancic, pg. 3] (also see critical theory) One may be inclined to think that if critical race theory opposes liberalism then it must be right wing. This is not so. Critical Race Theory is so far left that it opposes more moderate left wing positions such as liberalism.
critical theory (CT) – According to Stanford’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Critical Theory has a narrow and a broad meaning in philosophy and in the history of the social sciences. “Critical Theory” in the narrow sense designates several generations of German philosophers and social theorists in the Western European Marxist tradition known as the Frankfurt School. According to these theorists, a “critical” theory may be distinguished from a “traditional” theory according to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human “emancipation from slavery”, acts as a “liberating … influence”, and works “to create a world which satisfies the needs and powers” of human beings (Horkheimer 1972, 246).”
Not exactly. People commonly (mis)use the word theory to mean an educated guess about why something exists or is the way it is. That actually describes a hypothesis. A hypothesis may be, for example, “that the object that you released fell because it was pulled by the Earth’s magnetic field. Once we started testing, it would not take long to find out that my hypothesis was not supported by the evidence. Non-magnetic objects fall at the same rate as magnetic objects. Because it was not supported by the evidence, my hypothesis does not gain the status of being a theory. To become a scientific theory, an idea must be thoroughly tested, and must be an accurate and predictive description of the natural world.” [source: Robert Krampf the Happy Scientist]
In other words, a theory is a principle or set of principles that have explanatory power, that can be used to accurately predict the phenomena it addresses. A theory works. Critical theory and critical race theory and so on are nothing of the sort. They make assumptions and operate on those assumptions. Thus they are not theories or even hypotheses. They are political agendas masquerading as being a branch of the social “sciences”.
Returning to Stanford’s, “Because such theories aim to explain and transform all the circumstances that enslave human beings, many “critical theories” in the broader sense have been developed. They have emerged in connection with the many social movements that identify varied dimensions of the domination of human beings in modern societies. In both the broad and the narrow senses, however, a critical theory provides the descriptive and normative bases for social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms. Critical Theory in the narrow sense has had many different aspects and quite distinct historical phases that cross several generations, from the effective start of the Institute for Social Research in the years 1929–1930, which saw the arrival of the Frankfurt School philosophers and an inaugural lecture by Horkheimer, to the present.” [source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive, Winter 2019 Edition. “Critical Theory”. March 8, 2005].
cultural marxism –
deconstruction –
equality –
equity –
Frankfurt school –
gender – In the English language in general until recent times, gender refers to the biological sexes such as male and female. Some species have more than 2 genders such as species of fungi which have 4 genders. In linguistics, the term gender refers to the masculine, feminine and neutral forms that some words can take. More recently, as it is used by those of a certain political agenda, the term gender refers to
gender microaggression – [source: course syllabus for Culture & Mental Health, Summer 2016, University of Oregon, “adapted from Alicia Ibaraki, 2014”]
habermas –
hate speech –
heteronormative –
heterosexist –
identitarianism – identitarianism is identity politics for white people on the authoritarian/collectivist right (see identity politics)
identity politics – identity politics is identitiarianism for non-white, non-cis and/or non-hetero people on the authoritarian/collectivist left (see identitarianism)
individual racism – According to the Smithsonian, individual racism “refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism in conscious and unconscious ways. The U.S. cultural narrative about racism typically focuses on individual racism and fails to recognize systemic racism. Examples include believing in the superiority of white people, not hiring a person of color because “something doesn’t feel right,” or telling a racist joke.” [archive]
internalized dominance – According to the Smithsonian “racism is perpetuated by deeming whiteness as superior and other racial and ethnic groups as inferior. The prevalence of white dominant culture and racism leads to an internalized racial superiority for those who adhere to it. This internalized dominance “describes the experience and attitudes of those who are members of the dominant, privileged, or powerful identity groups. Members of the [dominant] group accept their group’s socially superior status as normal and deserved.” [as defined by CARED: Calgary Anti-Racism Education] [archive]
interpersonal racism – according to the Smithsonian, interpersonal racism “occurs between individuals. These are public expressions of racism, often involving slurs, biases, or hateful words or actions.” [archive]
institutional racism – – according to the Smithsonian, institutional racism [archive]
intersectional feminism – (AKA intersectionalism) –
intersectionalism – (AKA intersectional feminism) –
liberalism – This is a politically loaded term that means different (sometimes contradictory) things to different people depending on their preconceptions. The term classical liberalism refers to the liberalism of the Enlightenment era, of Jefferson and Paine, for example, which stressed liberty for land-owning (white) men and a constitutional republic of and for these men with rights such as freedom of speech and the freedom to peacefully assemble to petition that government.
The term social liberalism refers to the view that all adults of all colors and both sexes should have equal rights; equality under the law. Some people refer to this as “classical liberalism”. It is important to understands that these terms can have very different meanings to different people. What some refer to as social liberalism others refer to as libertarianism.
Some people use the term liberalism to refer to the view that the government should oversee social programs such as Affirmative Action, Social Security, Medicare, welfare, and that the government should address racial and sexual discrimination in the workplace and in schools and other such issues which are these days sometimes referred to with the term social justice. Some use the term progressive liberal or progressive liberal Democrat to refer to those who embrace this government-heavy form of liberalism.
liberatory –
libertarianism –
marxism –
memory hole –
microaggression – “Microggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults and potentially have a harmful or unpleasant psychological impact on the target person or group.” “Microaggressions are often unconsciously delivered in the form of subtle snubs or dismissive looks, gestures, and tones. These ex-changes are so pervasive and automatic in daily conversations and interactions that they are often dismissed and glossed over as being innocent and innocuous. Yet, as indicated previously, microaggressions are detrimental to persons of color because they impair performance in a multitude of settings by sapping the psychic and spiritual energy of recipients and by creating inequities (Franklin, 2004; D. W. Sue, 2004).” [source: course syllabus for Culture & Mental Health, Summer 2016, University of Oregon, “adapted from Alicia Ibaraki, 2014”] (also see gender microaggression, microinsult, microinvalidation, microassault, racial microaggression, sexual orientation microaggression)
microassault
microinequality – “In the world of business, the term “microinequities” is used to describe the pattern of being overlooked, underrespected, and de-valued because of one’s race or gender.” [source: course syllabus for Culture & Mental Health, Summer 2016, University of Oregon, “adapted from Alicia Ibaraki, 2014”]
microinsult –
microinvalidation –
political correctness – Political correctness can be said to serve 2 basic functions in accordance with the socio-political agendas of the authoritarian/collectivist left. Firstly, politically correct terms serve to separate members of the ingroup from members of the outgroup (to divide and conquer people); to set up an elite class of persons (sometimes referred to as woke, progressive or politically correct) who can easily divide people between ingroup and outgroup depending on what terms they use to refer to certain things. Example: the term “cripple” was a perfectly acceptable term until some divisive people decided it was a bad word and that the term “handicapped” was the acceptable, politically correct term to use until that term was used too widely for their divisive desires and they implemented the term “disabled” so they can point the finger at people and call them politically incorrect until that term became too widely accepted and they introduced the term “differently abled”. Once that term is widely used enough they will use a new term. Secondly, as opposed to factual correctness, political correctness does not pertain to objective reality but rather to a false version of reality that politically correct people collectively agree to pretend to believe is reality. For example, it is politically correct to refer to male-to-female transgender people as women.
post modernism –
problematic –
racial microaggression – “First coined by Pierce in 1970, the term refers to “subtle, stunning, often automatic, and non-verbal exchanges which are ‘put downs’” (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978, p. 66). Racial microaggressions have also been described as “subtle insults (verbal, non-verbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously” (Solo´rzano et al., 2000). Simply stated, microaggressions are brief, everyday ex-changes that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial minority group.” [source: course syllabus for Culture & Mental Health, Summer 2016, University of Oregon, “adapted from Alicia Ibaraki, 2014”]
race – According to the Smithsonian, “the dictionary’s definition of race is incomplete and misses the complexity of impact on lived experiences. It is important to acknowledge race is a social fabrication, created to classify people on the arbitrary basis of skin color and other physical features. Although race has no genetic or scientific basis, the concept of race is important and consequential. Societies use race to establish and justify systems of power, privilege, disenfranchisement, and oppression.
American Anthropological Association states that “the ‘racial’ worldview was invented to assign some groups to perpetual low status, while others were permitted access to privilege, power, and wealth. The tragedy in the United States has been that the policies and practices stemming from this worldview succeeded all too well in constructing unequal populations among Europeans, Native Americans, and peoples of African descent.” To understand more about race as a social construct in the United States, read the AAPA statement on race and racism(link is external).” [archive]
racial identity – One’s racial identity is imposed externally upon the individual by society as well as internally constructed by the individual according to the Smithsonian, which writes, furthermore…
“Understanding how our identities and experiences have been shaped by race is vital. We are all awarded certain privileges and or disadvantages because of our race whether or not we are conscious of it.”
They propose developmental models of this identity;
“Many sociologists and psychologists have identified that there are similar patterns every individual goes through when recognizing their racial identity. While these patterns help us understand the link between race and identity, creating one’s racial identity is a fluid and nonlinear process that varies for every person and group.
Think of these categories of Racial Identity Development [PDF] [archive] as stations along a journey of the continual evolution of your racial identity. Your personal experiences, family, community, workplaces, the aging process, and political and social events – all play a role in understanding our own racial identity. During this process, people move between a desire to “fit in” to dominant norms, to a questioning of one’s own identity and that of others. It includes feelings of confusion and often introspection, as well as moments of celebration of self and others. You may begin at any point on this chart and move in any direction – sometimes on the same day! Recognizing the station you are in helps you understand who you are.” [archive]
racism –
regressive left –
sexual orientation microaggression –
social liberalism refers to the view that all adults of all colors and both sexes should have equal rights; equality under the law. Some people refer to this as “classical liberalism”. It is important to understands that these terms can have very different meanings to different people. What some refer to as social liberalism others refer to as libertarianism. Still others refer to libertarianism as fascism but to be fair, these people are rather few in number and don’t base this view on anything other than a fundamental misunderstanding and/or a gross distortion of libertarianism.
socialism –
social justice –
structural racism – according to the Smithsonian, structural racism “is the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society. These systems give privileges to white people resulting in disadvantages tp people of color.” [archive]
systematic racism –
thoughtcrime –
trigger – To trigger a person is to stimulate part of an entire set of preconditioned responses that automatically stimulates the rest of that set of preconditioned responses. Example: if one refers to a media report as “fake news” this may trigger a set of responses from a woke person which may result in increased heart rate, flushed skin, anger, and a set of assumptions about the person using the term including that the person is racist, a Trump supporter, cishet, right wing and so on. Triggering depends on stereotypes held by those who are triggered. In our example, the triggered person is assuming that a person who uses that term fits the stereotype held by the triggered person about the people who use the term “fake news”.
trigger warning –
vindictive protectiveness –
whiteness – according to the Smithsonian Museum of African History and Culture, “Whiteness and white racialized identity refer to the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of are compared. Whiteness is also at the core of understanding race in America. Whiteness and the normalization of white racial identity throughout America’s history have created a culture where nonwhite persons are seen as inferior or abnormal.” [archive]
white fragility – according to the Smithsonian, Dr. Robin DiAngelo coined the term white fragility, defining it as “a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.” [archive]
JustinTrouble 