The Sin of Words, Part 3
The posts in this series (?) is going to be this short or even shorter - the nuance of language is a very intricate thing that does not allow me much time for writing them down before I forget how I've reached the conclusion that they are indeed problems that deserves being talked about in the first place. Gotta work fast since the devil works faster…
The Hidden Moral Judgement Behind Words, Cont.
A few months ago I've written this blog post; I have then posted the link to the Fediverse and I got this reply (archived). In that reply she said "now your wording is quite concerning"; now, I want you to think about this exact sentence, more specificly, the word "concerning" for a while. What emotion do you feel towards me and what emotion do you feel towards her when she used the word "concerning"? I believe that regardless of she being intentional or not, the use of the word "concerning" is disingenious: when someone says someone else is "concerning", doesn't it gives you an impression - no matter how faint - that the one that's "being concerned" is more caring, and since that person is more caring, they must be the good (or at least the better) one and the one who concerns them is thus the bad one? This is the real problem lying within this category of words: they are implicit moral judgements behind the disguise of a neutral and objective looking notion.
Whenever I think about it - especially after the moment that I finally figured this out - it annoys me to no end. Most, if not all of the time, no one is being concerned about anything, especially the one who says they're concerned; they are not concerned, they just don't like what I've said and implicitly framed me as the morally inferior side of the debate.
Last update: 2024.11.4