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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024

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Online, it's hard to tell to what degree all the cataclysmic tweets and videos from leftists melting down hysterically and screaming that we're going to enter an era of plantation slavery and the Handmaid's Tale are nutpicking (the reason LibsOfTikTok is so popular is that Millenials and Zoomers so freely provide so much content) and to what degree they reflect a genuine widespread sentiment.

I know that Tumblr is very far from a representative sample, but the histrionic posts coming across my dash thanks to the #politics tag have been plentiful enough to exceed mere "nutpicking."

Well, "very far from a representative sample" indeed. If there is anywhere that I would expect 90% of the posts to be hysterical meltdowns, it's Tumblr.

Incidentally I'm kind of amazed that the word 'hysterical' hasn't gotten y'alled yet.

Likewise to @Amadan, I don't concretely know what "y'alled" means, but I'm assuming that you mean to express surprise that it's still acceptable to say "hysterical" given its origin.

I'll say, you're not allowed to say "hysterical" in the circles I run in without getting at least a remark about how we shouldn't use gendered and/or historically sexist/misogynistic language.

The thing is, 'hysterical' first and foremost described a gendered pattern of behavior. It's called what it is because women are much more prone to it than men, and always have been. So its 'origin' isn't even the problem, I think. And I think it's funny that people (not necessarily you) would have become so blinded to the realities of psychological and behavioral differences between the sexes that they'd parse 'hysterical' as not having anything to do with women except incidentally in its origin.

It's called what it is because women are much more prone to it than men, and always have been.

Citation? You're making a factual claim that it's significantly more common in one sex here, not about how masculine/feminine the behavior is

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/its-catching/201703/why-are-females-prone-to-mass-hysteria

But honestly I'm at a loss as to how anyone could be so, uh, sheltered from the realities of differences between men and women that they'd ask for a citation. It's like asking whether boys or girls are more likely to throw knives at stuff for fun, and then demanding a citation when someone gives the obvious answer. There's a screamingly-loud pattern here that I'd think one has to be either extremely autistic or intensively propagandized in order to miss.

You're making a factual claim that it's significantly more common in one sex here, not about how masculine/feminine the behavior is

What a baffling statement.

of the 2,000+ cases in my files that date back to 1566

Ahhh, I had thought you meant "women are prone to hysteria", not "hysteria, an extremely rare phenomena that mostly only happens in women."

Honestly, I hadn't realized how incredibly rare it was! That's, what, 4 cases per year? So, what, one in a billion women? I feel okay not knowing the details of such an incredibly rare phenomena - you'd need to be pretty autistic to care about something that obscure :)

I'm certainly aware of the word's origins and why feminists object to it.

Whether or not hysteria is something women are more naturally susceptible to, though, I have seen enough hysterical men not to consider it to be a female-specific thing.

Yes; men can also behave in feminine ways. This doesn't make those behaviors masculine.

No, but it does make them not feminine if both men and women are prone to the behavior.

I don't understand the point you're making. How sexually-dimorphic does a trait or behavior need to be before it's rightly understood as either masculine or feminine?

I'm not sure what "y'alled" means. Is this a reference to some feminists saying it's a "gendered" insult?

Reddit mods locking threads and deleting posts of wrongthink because "y'all can't control yourselves".

TitaniumButterfly wonders why 'hysterical' is not being treated like 'retarded'.

It's /r/drama slang. Reddit mods saying "ya'll can't behave" before locking a thread/banning users turned discussion being shutdown into "getting yall'ed".

I'm not sure what "y'alled" means.

It's a reference to such sentiments as "Instead of saying 'you guys', which is etc., try something like 'y'all!'" A typical example of a larger pattern.

I'm pretty sure it's a reference to Reddit moderators locking a thread with a stock phrase like "y'all can't behave".

"Instead of saying 'you guys', which is etc., try something like 'y'all!'"

Oy. I do that at work all the time. I'm actually afraid to say "you guys" anymore.

This change is really weird to me, as someone from the heart of “you guys” territory. I had a lot of progressive friends in school who always said “you guys.” They didn’t think of it, it was just what people said, not something anyone needed to police.

They also weren’t the wokest of the woke I knew, so maybe the others were into it.

But if we’re going to pick a gender-neutral plural you, I nominate “you’uns”.

This change is really weird to me, as someone from the heart of “you guys” territory. I had a lot of progressive friends in school who always said “you guys.” They didn’t think of it, it was just what people said, not something anyone needed to police.

Yeah, I don't think it's universally agreed upon. Some left-leaning people are okay with "you guys", and some think it's another example that is masculine-normative, that's excluding women. From what I've seen, I guess I see hardcore leftist-of-the-left radical feminists be most against it in terms of calling people out, followed by the older token progressives who are looking for a way to contribute and/or signal their allegiance and/or keep the eye off Sauron off themselves. Like, advocating against "you guys" is the sort of thing that I've seen corporate boards and their lackeys do and recommend. It's enough to scare me, though, so I end up being a lackey, too, in the interests of not letting anything get between me and my ability to provide for my family.

My Dad said y'all. My Grandpa said y'all. His father probably said y'all.

I hope one day you may be find the courage and fortitude to return to "you guys", but in the mean time I'm giving you your y'all pass. No longer should you feel like a y'all carpet bagger. Y'all away. Y'all freely. Y'all without any shame, consideration, or fear.

Progressives want to claim it for themselves. Edgelords want to re-re-code it into oblivion. They can come and take it.

How should one say it though? I'm another from 'you guys' country, and if I try y'all it doesn't even make it so far as cultural appropriation, it's more like 'terrible parody of Southern hillbilly'.

I've done 'you all' occasionally, but I get the feeling this comes across as some sort of 'hello fellow hillbillies' deal -- so my policy is to aggressively use 'you guys' at all times, particularly when I'm talking about the female subset of a group in which they are all present.

If anyone calls me out over it I plan to play extremely dumb -- but nobody ever does.

If you can't Drawl The Y'all without feeling like a self-conscious phony it's going to hamper the affect and remove the joy of y'alling.* That's a predicament. I wouldn't think you would have to Drawl the Y'all to find a natural tone, but I'm not anyone but me.

If you find yourself talking with real salt of the earth rednecks, then I'll recommend you moderate your y'alling so you don't appear like or feel like a phony. They generally won't find "you guys" problematic in the ways urbane, middle class professionals might."

"You all" sounds like a compromise. In an environment where the Appropriated Y'all is dominant for less than authentic reasons I can see the measured use of a good you all. I like "folks" as well, but it can appear as unnatural and forced as a self-conscious y'all-- being employed by the same types for the same reasons.

That's why I say no shame, consideration, or fear. If it's gonna be appropriated by urbane, middle class professionals for weird cultural sensitivities you may as well y'all away, y'all freely, and y'all without remorse. Y'all around the world.

If anyone calls me out over it I plan to play extremely dumb -- but nobody ever does.

Lol. If it happens at least write about it here so our ancestors can one day read about how off the rails we went.

EDIT: You do not say it like an antebellum Southern gentleman if that's what you're asking. Although it'd probably be pretty awesome if you did do that-- in a non-professional setting.

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