A deal to end the 41-day government shutdown is running into turbulence, thanks to a single Senate objection: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Senate Republican and Democratic leaders say they need to resolve Paul’s objection to a provision in the government funding package before they can accelerate consideration of the bill. The provision would restrict the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based products.
You probably didnt know but marijuana is a racist word invented to blame Mexicans for cannabis consumption.
Edit: As people seem to think this was meant in a condescending way: I really just wanted to get the info out. As we are in kind of a progressive bubble here on Lemmy I assume that most people try to avoid using racist language and thus would appreciate this info if they dont already know. I at least would aporeciate people telling me when I accidentally use racist language instead of keeping quiet and potentially judging me.
That cat isn’t going back in the bag. Marijuana is what we call weed.
We have several hundred words for it, as far as I know nobody of any race or ethnic background is offended by any of them.
I mean you do you, but there are dozens of words for it and I dont see the need to use the one invented by racists.
Edit: invented by racists specifically to promote racism.
What would you call a single serving bottle of liquor?
A fifth.
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No idea, what do you mean?
A 50ml bottle would be called what? The most common answer is a racist term for Japanese people and I have to correct almost every employee I have trained because of how common it is.
The correct proper answer is a “mini” but there’s a more common term.
Technically I think most words were invented by racists.
Ur right^^ but most were not invented specifically to promote racisms
This is that kind of hill that some progressives try to die on that serves absolutely no good and just perpetuates the stereotype that the left is full of “thought police” and want to make laws about words.
Let’s focus this energy against enemies, and there are plenty.
Would you say the same about the n-word? This is the exact same argument people used to make when the efforts of getting rid of its frequent use started growing.
I dont see the point of not making informative statements in an already progressive bubble. How would you suggest I “focus the energy against enemies” in a lemmy thread aboud weed?
It’s absolutely not the same, one word offends a lot of people broadly because it signals how you feel about them, and the other doesn’t do that, the other is a word that people of all races and backgrounds use and is never used as a signal from people to show how they feel about a race or minority group, at least not in the modern world. Nobody is going to call you a racist for using the word marijuana… except if we start cycling what you’re saying here, in this bubble of dry kindling and impressionable minds looking to police each other, then there WILL be debates about the word, and it will continue to bleed into other spaces and make leftists infight because it’s a stupid thing to try to chastise people about, and it will become another performative issue that makes people roll their eyes at activism in general.
Honestly I wouldn’t bring it up at all. If you’re not in an etymology discussion, what good do you POSSIBLY expect to come from educating people about this? What is your end-goal? Do you actually think it’s worth the energy of even trying to get people to change their language for no good reason when it serves no real good or have any real benefits?
Good luck getting people to stop using the word lol
Im not specifically invested in making people stop using it, but I think most people dont know and theres really no need to use the one word invented by racists when theres literally hundreds of synonyms.
you’re getting mad at the wrong thing, everyone knows what MJ is weed, and they dont see it as a racist thing used to describe someone.
Literally not mad, just trying to inform. In my experience many people here make an effort not to use racist language, I at least would appreciate people telling me when I use such words without knowing.
I could dive into any one of a hundred thousand different aspects of our daily life and society that has roots in some form of oppression or hate or violence. Our society is built upon a mountain of skulls.
We all know this, and we move on. We cannot change how we got here, we cannot undo the harm of the past by changing our language. The vast, vast majority of english-speaking people will tell you this: it does not matter the origin of a thing nearly as much as how that thing is used here and now. Marijuana is not used to signal anything or to harm anyone, UNLESS YOU MAKE IT.
You are not raising awareness, you are raising a spectre of hate behind a word that has become disarmed and it serves no purpose other than a desire to see that spectre for some reason.
You are contradicting yourself here. Either you don’t care if people use it, or you do care and want people to use different words. You brought it up so have a stance.
OR, we could direct this energy at actual targets like the people trying to take away all of our rights and actually bring back racism and bigotry as law.
If you just wanted to point it out like some kind of trivia and educate people, but don’t want to sound like you’re lecturing or advocating for something dumb, you need to reformat your original comment in a different way so it’s not prescriptive or suggesting anything is wrong with saying it now since it doesn’t actually bother most people.
I dont see a contradiction. Not everything a person says is meant to make other people do things. We are in a progressive bubble where I assume most people make an effort to not use racist language and when I see someone using it I inform them about it and however they use that information is up to them.
How would you suggest I reword it? English is not my first language and it didnt seem pushy to me.
You said this, but you’re STILL trying to defend your stance that we should not use the word. It’s not a matter of if you’re being pushy, it’s WHAT you’re pushing.
In this case, do you REALLY want to see progressives in these spaces divide up into camps arguing if the word is safe to say or not? Do you think everyone will just “work it out” between each other? Have you any clue how these issues harm progressive movements?
I am literally half thinking you might be a bad-faith plant or provocateur, even Lemmy has them.
No, many people are aware of that. It isn’t some obscure secret.
I didnt say most people dont know. I was specifically talking to the person who used it.