Does anyone have a good theory of semiotic warfare? Like, when people start advocating for using words differently, when should you “cede” linguistic ground and when should you fight to keep the old definition? When if ever is it permissible to punish people who insist on using words in the new way, or the old way? Or if you don’t like the normative frame—what is the realpolitik of semiotic warfare? How does one best achieve one’s goals given the ongoing war over language?
Obvious examples that come to mind are “alignment”, “science”, “God”, “war crime”, “woman”, “illegal immigrant”. These are culture-warry for obvious reasons; I’m mostly looking for engagement on the meta-level.
I’m not necessarily endorsing this (haven’t re-read it yet and don’t remember fully agreeing with it), but it immediately came to mind: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/give-up-seventy-percent-of-the-way. It’s specifically about the process by which words become slurs, but it directly addresses the question of when to go along with the change and when not to.
That article is great for touching on the subject but I feel like it’s horribly missing a way to propose reversing such things. I am unbelievably against how many social landmines this has all caused (especially for a movement where people supposedly should be understanding of people of different mentalities and backgrounds who have to learn an ever increasing pile of things).
Also I wonder what happened with the comments in that article, like the top 10 top level replies are deleted on there...
Does anyone have a good theory of semiotic warfare? Like, when people start advocating for using words differently, when should you “cede” linguistic ground and when should you fight to keep the old definition? When if ever is it permissible to punish people who insist on using words in the new way, or the old way? Or if you don’t like the normative frame—what is the realpolitik of semiotic warfare? How does one best achieve one’s goals given the ongoing war over language?
Obvious examples that come to mind are “alignment”, “science”, “God”, “war crime”, “woman”, “illegal immigrant”. These are culture-warry for obvious reasons; I’m mostly looking for engagement on the meta-level.
Not meta level helpful but I always cede ground and blacklist the people involved.
I’m not necessarily endorsing this (haven’t re-read it yet and don’t remember fully agreeing with it), but it immediately came to mind: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/give-up-seventy-percent-of-the-way. It’s specifically about the process by which words become slurs, but it directly addresses the question of when to go along with the change and when not to.
That article is great for touching on the subject but I feel like it’s horribly missing a way to propose reversing such things. I am unbelievably against how many social landmines this has all caused (especially for a movement where people supposedly should be understanding of people of different mentalities and backgrounds who have to learn an ever increasing pile of things).
Also I wonder what happened with the comments in that article, like the top 10 top level replies are deleted on there...