When it comes to choosing words, do you wish Google would save you from yourself? For those intent upon expression but afraid of causing offense, the tech company has put on its Rescue vest.
Google Docs has introduced a new feature that will warn you if you type words it considers unacceptable.
Make a wrong move, and you’ll be told your choice “may not be inclusive to all readers.”
The software will benevolently direct you to words sufficiently woke.
So if you go savage with something like “landlord,” you’ll be turned onto “property owner” or “proprietor.”
Make the macho mistake of “mankind,” and you’ll be corrected to the tune of “humankind.”
Go full neanderthal with “policemen,” and “police officers” will be served up.
And if you Cro-magnon crap the bed with “housewife,” for goodness sake, respect a “stay-at-home spouse.”
Curbing speech is currently all the rage.
Cases in point:
Host of School’s Free Speech Event Issues Language Guide Prohibiting ‘Man,’ ‘Woman,’ and ‘Mother’
University Schools Students on the Importance of Free Speech — and Reporting People Who Use It
To Be Inclusive of Non-Binary Parents, Hospitals Nix the Terms ‘Breast Milk’ and ‘Father’
She’s No ‘Showgirl’: Microsoft Pummels the Problematic by Correcting Your Unwoke Words
Breastfeeding Academy Bails on ‘Breasts’
Even Disney — a cultural institution founded upon entertaining ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls — no longer does so:
Disney Lops 'Ladies and Gentlemen,' Bounces 'Boys and Girls' in the Name of Inclusionhttps://t.co/hiUaAF2sZJ
— Alex Parker (@alexparker1984) July 14, 2021
As for inclusion, it’s a tricky thing. So tricky, in fact, it’s impossible.
If someone excludes a word in the name of inclusion, they’ve already lost the battle.
Furthermore, there is no such thing as one word which “inclusively” enchants all in the universal audience while another word meaning the exact same thing does not, as some will prefer one word and others its alternative. There is, in the end, only the word that you yourself wish to use.
And some in contemporary culture wish for your wishes not to come true.
Back to Google, the New York Post reports the feature has a quirky sense:
Vice writers found that when they attempted to type in the words “annoyed” and “Motherboard,” these seemingly innocuous terms were flagged for being insufficiently inclusive.
Meanwhile, a transcription of an interview with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, where he uses the n-word and says a host of other reprehensible things about black people, raised no red flags.
From Vice:
Even Jesus…doesn’t get off easily — rather than talking about God’s “wonderful” works in the Sermon on the Mount, Google’s robot asserts, He should have used the words “great,” “marvelous,” or “lovely.”
Hopefully, we’ll one day again live in a world where everyone can freely speak their mind. For now, if you reference your “waiter,” the modern among us will lament your mistake. That might be okay, per a certain “wonderful” passage — after all, blessed are those who mourn. They’ll be comforted, but Google would like to intercept your error before it reaches their enlightened ears.
-ALEX
See more content from me:
The Science Is Settled: Whiteboards Are Racist, at Least in Physics
In Politics, Culture Is Queen: Nancy Pelosi Gets Religious During a Star Appearance on a Drag Show
University Seeks Science Professor Who Can Be Anything but a One-Spirit Man With a Penis
Find all my RedState work here.
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