Re: Changing terms without changing minds?

Agreed - and though I can't find it right now, I recently ran across some recent research that confirmed this: changing the name of something just causes bigots to attach their old beliefs to the new name.

Years ago I recall there was a certain amount of contempt for this sort of thing. It was one thing when "nigger" was replaced by "negro", and then "negro" was replaced by "colored", and then "colored" by "black", but after it moved on to "Afro-American" and then "African-American" in quick succession, the new terms were ridiculed for what they were - a silly attempt to change reality by changing the words to describe it.

Now, whether someone said "negro" or "colored" or "black" had mostly to do with the era they grew up in, but all of these were mostly said with respect, and the black people I knew could tell when someone spoke respectfully and when they spoke scornfully - and mostly didn't hold much truck with all the name changes themselves.

And the heavy lifting in improving race relations was not done by changing the use of words, but by treating people right and demanding that others treated people right.

Whether we call ourselves pedophiles or girl lovers or infernal demons of Hades doesn't really matter, what matters is "When you call me that, Smile."