Something That Irks The Sh*t Out Of Me

From an article that appeared at American Thinker today:

At the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, Shannon Watkins unwraps how "the anglicized Spanish term Latinx is the latest attempt of gender activists to impose their perverse ideology on the rest of the culture [and] on Spanish speakers in particular."

What is so significant about adding the letter 'x' to the word 'Latino?' To activists, it solves a confounding problem: There is no 'gender-neutral' way to refer to individuals in the Spanish language. Someone, for example, may be described as a 'Latino' writer (if a man) or a 'Latina' writer (if a woman), but there is no phrasing for those who don’t consider themselves male or female.

But in the early 2000s, activists came up with a solution: Replace the 'o' in masculine words like 'Latino' and the 'a' in feminine words like 'Latina' with a gender-neutral 'x' to create the inclusive term 'Latinx.'

So the Leftists have "killed two birds with one stone" -- they have insinuated the whole left-wing ideology about gender-neutral language and also made an alleged compassionate plea to the Spanish community.

For a while, 'Latinx' remained a niche term secluded to small circles of academics and activists. But not for long. Around 2014, eager to appear 'inclusive,' colleges and universities started to adopt the term.

As a result, institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, and the University of Florida began to re-label. For example, 'Hispanic heritage month' became 'Latinx heritage month,' and  'Latino Studies' was changed to 'Latinx studies.'  In addition, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has now joined the bandwagon.

This, despite the fact that the "overwhelming majority of Hispanics in the U.S. do not want to be referred to as "Latinx." Hispanic is the preferred term because Latinx "simply does not make linguistic sense" to a Spanish speaker since it "embodies a gender ideology completely unmoored from reality."

While the change from 'o' to 'x' might seem minor to some, it is in fact an attempt by ideologues to impose a highly questionable theory of gender by distorting and policing language.

But Newspeak is exactly what leftists engage in and if they say it enough times, it becomes reality. With the imprimatur of colleges across the nation, how much better does it get?  Thus, " Latinx -- an alternative to Latino or Latina -- is headed in that direction. Academic centers are adding the word to their titles. The term is becoming de rigueur among artists and politically active youth. Media outlets like NPR are using it without remark or explanation. Another sign that this word has staying power: dictionaries have recently taken the time to define it."

Latinx (adj.): Relating to people of Latin American origin or descent (used as a gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina)

Moreover, the term has "now gained currency among marketers and media personalities" who are often quite progressive in their thinking. For example, Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren promised to champion "Latinx families."

In a column for the Los Angeles Times, an Hispanic writer noted that millennial media outlets who used it found their pages “flooded with negative reactions, with some calling the term ‘ridiculous,’ ‘stupid’ and ‘offensive.’”

Alejandrina Gonzalez, a Mexican-American Stanford University student, has stated that "millennials who view Latinx as liberating have it backwards. 'Changing our language is the opposite of empowering.'"