We have been following the gradual elimination of common terms deemed offensive or microaggressive. The latest is the word “picnic.” After the University of Nevada Las Vegas law school’s Environmental Law Society announced a picnic, it was renamed “Lunch by the Lake” due to “diversity and inclusion” concerns. The ELS was able to avoid a second correction with a “Lunch in the Field” since “field” has also been found to be offensive at other schools.According to a memo, the law group informed members that the word “picnic” has “historical and offensive connotations,” and apologized for “any harm or discomfort” caused by its use. That is consistent with the view of the University of Michigan’s IT department in finding that “Picnic” was an offensive word.
Prior fact checks found that claims that the term originated in reference to “racist lynchings” are wrong. Rather, it is connected to the 300-plus-year-old French word “pique-nique,” meaning a potluck-like social gathering.
Ferris State University’s David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, is also quoted in College Fix as saying that “it’s possible someone used the word ‘picnic’ to refer to lynchings, but what we know for a fact is that’s not where the word ‘picnic’ came from.’”
There have been an array of such controversies over terms being dropped for what some may incorrectly assume to be their meaning or origin.
There was the decision at Harvard to drop the traditional term “House master” despite the lack of any connection to slavery. There was also the school district which dropped a cougar mascot as disrespectful to older women. There was also the move to drop the term “quantum supremacy” in physics. Many schools have moved to drop the term “alumni,” which is already gender neutral.
We have faced the same type of debate over the campaign to drop the “Colonials” mascot at The George Washington University. SA Sen. Hayley Margolis, CCAS-U, is quoted in the Hatchet as saying “When we talk about the Colonial in history, what does it mean? And is that really what we want our school identity to be?”
The Colonials is not a general reference to colonialism or a celebration of colonization. To the contrary, the Colonials (including George Washington) fought against being a colony. They fought the British Empire and its belief that you could subject a people to such foreign rule. The term “Colonials” is an obvious and direct reference to those who fought in the Revolutionary War. It is an inspiring symbol for any school.
What is clear is that higher education is no picnic for anyone who continues to cling to objective meaning in the usage of common terms.
Maybe the legal profession should return to apprenticeships and forget law schools altogether. Or simply put it all on the internet and take courses there. Better yet have the various law schools put all their courses on the internet and let the students pick and choose which they wish to read and practice. Once you have accumulated the appropriate courses for a “well rounded legal education”, you then take a week long test monitored by a conservative AI or a Progressive AI, depending on which course you wish to follow. Which test you take would have to be proudly shown on your shingle, for public knowledge and education. If you are on TV there should always be a flashing light under the speaker saying Progressive, Liberal, Centrist, Conservative, Reactionary, Fool. Some might even want to take both tests for a broader understanding of the law. Sort of like a newspaper saying they are centrist, Labor, or Tory in the UK.
Of course if you want to argue the law in court, that would require a different area of training, sort of like a residency.
As far as Hillary is concerned, Intelligence does not always mean Wisdom. Bill Clinton showed far more wisdom than his wife, except for his relationships with women.
“[DEI], to god-damned hell with [DEI]! We have no [DEI]. In fact, we don’t need [DEI]. I don’t have to show you any stinking [DEI].”
– Gold Hat, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948
This is what I think of when I hear “Picnic”.
Torrid. Touché.
Picnic Nitpicks
At a job fair of a major multi-national law firm
Interviewer: “Next candidate, please.”
Applicant: “Hello”
I: “Hello, which law school did you attend?”
A: “University of Nevada at Las Vegas”
I: “Next candidate, please.”
{repeat}
Law school supposedly teaches debate, advocacy and presenting facts for all parties – that “think like a lawyer” thing – as I was taught at the “liberal” school I attended (because of cost, not ideology). It is thus disconcerting that UNLV is not considering Mr. Pilgrim’s statement, nor the word’s French origin. Words matter, to be sure, but so do their origins and history, not arbitrary, unilateral (mis)interpretations.
Regarding offensiveness, do these schools still show the Irving Younger cross-examination video, or is that OK because there is still that group we are allowed, almost required, to stereotype and regard negatively? I remember the loud laughter when it was shown in my 1L Evidence class.
And who decided that “cougar” was to be used to describe older women attracted to younger men? The connection is mysterious.
(From a lifelong Democrat who is no illiterate moron with an agenda disconnected from facts.)
Reminds me of a paper I wrote many years ago in law school about a hypothetical future where due to technology getting an abortion only meant terminating the pregnancy, but not prenatal life. At that point the field survey asked the woman to choose one of three options; return of the fetus after full out-of-womb gestation development, adoption or termination. Very interesting results, especially in the 18-22 yr old range where a large % of them would take the fetus back – suggesting that abortion is to avoid physical changes to their bodies and birthing more so than not wanting a child.
Long story short, and more to the point of Turley’s article, I ended the paper with this:
“Who is to say how the meaning of the word – abortion – will be perceived in the future.
In the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes:
“A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Towne v. Eisner, 245 U.S. 418, 425 (1918)
I have a great deal of respect for Holmes and consider him one of the best. But like the rest of us, he was not perfect and had serious blind spots. He championed eugenics and led the Court to approve forced sterilization. (“Three generations of morons are enough” (not a perfect quote but close.)) He had a narrow view of the First Amendment (not OK to falsely shout “fire” in a crowded theatre). And what Prof Turley’s colleague on the GW Law faculty said about Holmes is interesting: “George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen summarized Holmes’s views this way: ‘Holmes was a cold and brutally cynical man who had contempt for the masses and for the progressive laws he voted to uphold … an aristocratic nihilist who once told his sister that he loathed ‘the thick-fingered clowns we call the people’.” From what I have read of Holmes, I respectfully disagree with Prof. Rosen and suspect he got Holmes and Hillary mixed up.
I agree with Holmes when he said:
“A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.”
That does not distinguish, however, between the variations in the meaning of a word when it is being forcibly changed to conform to a political objective, as today’s Left so often does.
Every time I read something like this, I have to check whether I am really not reading the Babylon Bee. Removing Cougars not to offend older women would be hilarious were it not saddeningly a true occurrence. Ignorance rules our universities enabling totally inaccurate statements as to the origin of picnic. I am surprised that universities still reward master degrees.
Wake up you bunch of childish dolts. This is the sort of thing our enemies rejoice in. We had lots of proof of that yesterday (Saturday). Our turn for a is next if we don’t come together and stop worrying about such garbage. Just keep taking your eye off the ball, you future so-called defenders of our liberties vis-à-vis the rule of law. What a joke our next generation of lawyers are.
Just when I did not think woke leftists could not be any more stupid, they go a prove me wrong all by their own doing.
This is the mentality of wokeism.
Oh, c’mon! Read 1984 and learn! Yes, ‘progressives’ and ‘liberals’ are constantly trying to modify the language! The goal is NOT for political control but to get the number of syllables and total words down to a level they can understand and retain.
Amazing what you can accomplish, however ridiculous, when the mainstream media is backing your hand. There’s literally no limit when you control the narrative. Just remember that one of the most advanced civilizations in Europe in the 1930’s, ended up building Auschwitz. It makes Hillary Clinton’s “re-education camp” comment quite sobering……
“[T]he law group informed members that the word ‘picnic’ has ‘historical and offensive connotations,’”
So according to those lunatics, if I say: “Being with you is a picnic”, what I really mean is: “Being with you is slavery.”
The DSM is not supposed to be a stylebook.
And for me, Monday will be Columbus Day. Again. And forever.
“And for me, Monday will be Columbus Day.”
Me, too — proudly.
Diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), including: racism, sexism, classicism, etc., is exclusive. #HateLovesAbortion
That said, this will not soon be forgotten, not lost in a back… black hole… whore h/t NAACP
Such a “burden” h/t Obama. Abort, NOW.
Destroying the language is straight out of Orwell’s playbook.
It’s really about power.
^^^^
Face it.
Democrats are illiterate morons. AND facts don’t support their agenda, so they are forced to prostitute themselves and the language, in an attempt to stay in the debate.
Whores to their agenda.
Dropping ‘Cougars’ as offensive to older women is just the funniest thing ever. 😂
These seemingly bizarre attacks on what seem to be ordinary words may seem senseless but they actually have an important point: It’s really about power. What the fanatics who issue these fatwas are saying is that it is for them to issue orders and for the rest of us to hear and obey. Seen this way, the more nonsensical the command the more power it projects. It’s as though the Left said no one can use the word “blue” and we all had to obey.
@Blackbeard
Honestly, I think that is giving too much credit. These people really are that brain dead, ignorant, and spoiled – which I personally think is a bigger problem. We are headed for a time in the West where very few in society will be willing to or capable of doing much of anything, and it isn’t entirely by design. It could all unravel rather quickly if we hit a tipping point.
It isn’t working class people pushing the socialist agenda; it’s pampered, highly ‘educated’ sons and daughters of privilege trying to create a caste society. My wife’s and my direct experience with such individuals through education who have swallowed leftist ideas whole hog, usually generationally, has shown us that, no, they really are this ridiculous, prejudiced, absurd, and utterly devoid of critical thinking, broad mindedness, and empathy. The bucktoothed deplorables actually populate Ivy League universities and families, wear Prada, and pay $500 for one shot of Tequila. Their ignorance and self-entitlement has simply trickled down the totem pole of their milieu, Hunter and all our sycophants are fantastic examples of that.
Those in question in the piece and their forebears were never at any time the sharpest tools in the shed, they do not possess a shred of actual wisdom (that requires actual knowledge, experience, and exposure to life) though they certainly are tools.
James,
Well said.
I fear the tipping point is coming closer and closer by the day.
Clinton’s recent comment about re-education camps are a clear sign of the contempt her and her kind have for those of the lower socio-economic class.
@Upstate
There is a reality in the value of simple, ‘been there, done that’, and many in modern times will never be there, they will never do that, and at this point, don’t have the faculties to imagine it. The whole mess together is quite a mess, indeed.
E.g.: People cheering for Hamas this weekend are definitely a portent, one that’s just been growing, and we should really heed it, not because Hamas is Muslim, but because their acts are reprehensible. Biden and his admin are the pinnacle of cowardice/reticence.
Having grown up in Silicon Valley, when Hillary spoke of the “working class” in 2008 I thought, in America everybody works (at least some of their lives) and the billionaires work hardest of all (to the point of obsession)! I thought Britain was a place with a class system, not the U.S.
Not so to elitists educated in the Marxist philosophy of oppression. Hillary never worked; like Hunter Biden she made a career of accepting favors in exchange for political influence.
@Creekan
Nailed it. 👍🏼