“A child’s educational opportunity should be determined by her intellect and work ethic, not by her ZIP Code.”
Governor Bob McDonnell
Governor — Virginia
Now people are going to think I’m being picky here and hyper-critical but until the last 10 years or so anybody speaking or writing that above statement would have used the male pronoun “his” where the female pronoun “her” is used. Why the change? The answer is that we have bought into political correctness so that when we right papers or speak in public we think it necessary to occasionally sprinkle our speaking and writing with female pronouns where male pronouns had once been universally used. Up until we were crushed with PC everybody understood that the male generic pronoun was used to be inclusive of all mankind. However, some where along the way someone decided that the use of such pronouns was not sensitive to the female persuasion and as such, in an effort to show sensitivity to someones hyperactive feelings, our culture has gone to deleting the male pronouns in favor of the female pronouns. This happens everywhere from academic papers, to political speeches to bible translations. The habit is ubiquitous and what is a hoot is that the people who do it actually believe that they are revealing themselves to be a sensitive, kinder, more caring people.
Now, at the end of the day the pronoun itself is a very small thing. What is a very big thing though is all the feminism, multiculturalism, and political correctness that lays behind these small pronouns. What is a very big deal is the linguistic Marxism that tells us what speech we can use in order to be considered culturally attuned and what speech we can’t use lest we be considered social troglodytes. If the PC police can have their way with a culture on personal pronouns how much more will they have their way with culture on issues that are genuinely weighty?
Finally, all of this reveals to me again how compromised the Republican party is. If Gov. McDonnell spoke this way unconsciously then it shows he has unknowingly surrendered to some PC assumptions. If Gov. McDonnell spoke this way consciously then it shows he is willing to consciously compromise with the feminist, Marxist (but I repeat myself) zeitgeist.
Most people find it hard to believe how basic these seemingly small matters are to civilization, but it is my conviction that giving into this PC speak is indicative of a underlying bedrock Marxist layering that is operating as the intellectual background out of which a person communicates.
But then most people think I see far more then what is really present. You be the judge.
Did you check the entire quote?
Perhaps he was already referring to females for some reason?
Yes Daniel, I read the whole transcript. The context does not explain or justify his pronoun usage.
He is being a politician, they are whores, they pander to whomever will elect or re-elect them. Picking up on their subtle little inclusions should have been taught to us as youngsters, not now. They where right when they where taught incrimentalism, it works, and unless we voice our concerns long and loud early, they win. We can do the same thing by refusing to call things what they call them. Ex: Hoplophobe, use it anytime someone criticizes gun owner ship, makes THEM sound like the nutcase, which they are. Never use fetus, or abortion use the correct term, always. JMHO
Several years ago, I received an advance copy of a new textbook on kendo (Japanese fencing). My first skim-through had me on track to give the book a positive review, since the illustrations and diagramming fit together well with the explanatory text. But then as I read closer, I noticed that the author referred to anyone practicing kendo in the feminine gender. “If A does not lift her shinai [sword] higher than her throat level, she will not expose her kote [wrist] to a diagonal strike.” I found this very curious, because females are hardly a notable presence in the kendo world outside of high school teams in Japan. I showed this book to several high-ranking Japanese kendo stylists, and without exception, they all laughed the book to scorn and dismissed the author as a dilettante, unworthy of serious consideration.
Sometimes, derisive laughter really is the best reaction to such simpering language.