Re:How Big Tech Is Importing India’s Caste Legacy to Silicon...
by FooBarBizBazz on Friday March 12, 2021 @10:25AM
(#26436773)
The word "problematic" has a history.
The original examples:
1. The "Jewish Question" or "Jewish Problem" -- ideas from the then-intelligencia that led to the "Final Solution" of the Holocaust [1].
2. The "woman problem" (which had no similarly dramatic "solution") [2].
The current usage of "problematic" is an intentional "turning of the tables", an inversion of that previous use of language. The people who began this trend of inversion did so deliberately, knowing that they were playing with fire, since in the past those word-games had led to genocide.
A similar inversion of "ressentiment" [3] also happened. At one time it was used for antisemitic purposes; now you're more likely to see it wielded against Trumpists.
Over time, the weapons of one side can, and will, be appropriated by the other.
The original examples:
1. The "Jewish Question" or "Jewish Problem" -- ideas from the then-intelligencia that led to the "Final Solution" of the Holocaust [1].
2. The "woman problem" (which had no similarly dramatic "solution") [2].
The current usage of "problematic" is an intentional "turning of the tables", an inversion of that previous use of language. The people who began this trend of inversion did so deliberately, knowing that they were playing with fire, since in the past those word-games had led to genocide.
A similar inversion of "ressentiment" [3] also happened. At one time it was used for antisemitic purposes; now you're more likely to see it wielded against Trumpists.
Over time, the weapons of one side can, and will, be appropriated by the other.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Question
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_woman_question
[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ressentiment