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Originally Posted by Strange Famous
the term "mankind" explicitly excludes women, and therefore it is inappropriate. I am not saying people should be prevented by law from saying it if they want, but in the education system, in state literature and so on, the appropriate terms should be used.
Free speech is all well and good, but people also have a right to be protected from offensive speech.
It is not unreasonable for women to be offended by a term that implies that humanity is male - this devalues the contributions of women to the human race, and portrays women as secondary to men.
It is unreasonable to be offended by someone asking for a "black coffee"
Like I said, you will always find people who's opinions are onm either margin... I think the common sense of the people can find a sensible middle ground, and there is a general consensus about what is politically incorrect and what is not.
Out of interest, why do you find it difficult to use the term "humankind", or to call first years "freshpeople". Surely being inclusive is a good thing?
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That is so wrong, on so many levels, it simply defies logic. To begin with;
"Mankind" does not exclude women, first and foremost, its something called THE GOD DAMN ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Mankind is a compound word, and is based on the foundation of the language both you, and I speak. Man, meaning, huMANs, not huPEOPLE but human, and Kind, meaning all of the human race. To say that "mankind" should be People-Kind or any other PC nonsense is just another form of newspeak.
Secondly; In countries where you are free to speak your mind, you can say whatever you damn well please. If I choose to say something you don't like DON'T LISTEN. If you don't want to listen to KKK members, DON'T. That is the freedom you have as well, to NOT listen. If you don't want to listen the NAACP march on washington DC then DON'T. But how dare you try and limit my freedom of speech by saying it "offends" you. Cry me a fucking river, and get over it.
And there is such a thing as tradition, and leaving well alone. We don't need to change our entire language because it offends a feminist, or a liberal, or person who gets offended by everything that someone says.
Also, I love how you don't respond to my original post, in which, I responded to your saying that "calling a person a retard" is bad. However, that is just a shortend term for "mental retardation".