While perusing through Deadspin this morning, I stumbled across an article posted on Splinter News (a sister site to Deadspin and Gizmodo) yesterday titled “Ted Cruz Continues His Perfect Streak of Brutal Self-Owns“. The article covers Cruz’ recent ad that’s basically a terribly written country jingle that pokes fun at his opponent, Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s nickname “Beto.”
The article was reading fine if not more slanted than usual, when I suddenly heard a short sharp shriek in my head when I came across this sentence:
“Cruz is attempting to paint O’Rourke’s use of the name “Beto” as a deceitful ploy to win the Latinx vote.”
Did you catch it? Let’s read that again.
“Cruz is attempting to paint O’Rourke’s use of the name “Beto” as a deceitful ploy to win the Latinx vote.”
OK, how about now?
“…a deceitful ploy to win the Latinx vote.”
Last time.
“the Latinx vote.”
I lied, one more.
“the Latinx “
For those who don’t know what exactly “Latinx” is (and, by God, why should you), it is the “non-gender-fied” substitute for Latino.
Here it is explained by your annoying, bohemian, vegan friend who lives in a perpetually dirty apartment in East Austin (ala HuffPost):
Latinx is the gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina and even Latin@. Used by scholars, activists and an increasing number of journalists, Latinx is quickly gaining popularity among the general public. It’s part of a “linguistic revolution” that aims to move beyond gender binaries and is inclusive of the intersecting identities of Latin American descendants. In addition to men and women from all racial backgrounds, Latinx also makes room for people who are trans, queer, agender, non-binary, gender non-conforming or gender fluid.
Ok, so what else, woke-person?
“In Spanish, the masculinized version of words is considered gender neutral. But that obviously doesn’t work for some of us because I don’t think it’s appropriate to assign masculinity as gender neutral when it isn’t,” explains queer, non-binary femme writer Jack Qu’emi Gutiérrez in an interview with PRI. “The ‘x,’ in a lot of ways, is a way of rejecting the gendering of words to begin with, especially since Spanish is such a gendered language.” Latinx is also, as pointed out by writer Gabe Gonzalez, a way to reclaim identity, a form of rebellion against “the language and legacy of European traditions that were imposed on the Americas.”
Got it. So, basically, its existence is summed up to be a “rebellious” response against the Spanish language. **eye-roll**
As a tribute to Kimo himself who taught me the value of “Cal-Cool-os,” what is the limit as “X” approaches “peak over-political correctness”?
This bullshit.
For your discomfort, here’s a cringe-worthy explainer video from Mitu.
Let’s unpack these arguments for a minute:
1) To Dismantle The Patriarchy
Somehow, the proponents of “Latinx”, believe the Spanish language subconsciously dictates the lives of the women that speak it. That by using the universal term of “Latino” makes them subservient to men.
This is a blindingly mindless assumption that doesn’t take into consideration that most Latina women, unfortunately, are brought up in patriarchal cultures where the Church and old-traditional Mexican/Latino values are at the center of their lives.
Believing that the structure of their language is the root of the problem is like saying the wick of a candle was the cause of a house fire.
2) To Breakdown The Gender Binary
Hey, guys look! We solved the inclusion problem by placing a letter at the end of a noun!
We at The Bench Wire do sympathize with persons who are transgender because too many people who don’t agree are wanting too much to do with their choice.
Whatever this is, though, isn’t an actual solution to the bigger problem.
“But JD, aren’t you a proponent of taking down Confederate Statues and keep the Confederate flag out of state and federal buildings? How is that any different than what we’re doing to the Spanish Language?”
The Civil War was fought over slavery (or according to the Alt-Right, “State’s Rights.” Yeah..the state’s rights to FUCKING OWN SLAVES). The intent of the statues is directly linked to glorifying that same abhorrent cause. The intent for the construction of the Spanish language isn’t one out of malice or hate or to degrade women, but to simply communicate. That’s it.
As maybe some (read: none) of you have noticed, we at The Bench Wire always attempt to be fairly even-keeled when it comes to calling out either side’s bullshit and today, the hyper-left drew our ire.
Over sensitivity means we have overreactions to things that mean literally nothing. The Spanish language isn’t the bad guy and isn’t trying to offend you; it isn’t the misogynist boogyman (or..boogyWOMAAANN) the hyper-left wants you to believe that we should blame for all of our gender inequality problems.
It’s a beautiful language that doesn’t need our non-sense editing to appease those who take it completely out of context.
