

Labels used to suppress ideas - garret
http://www.paulgraham.com/labels.html

======
dominik
I found this essay little more than ableist abnormal abusive adult age-
inappropriate ageist aggressive annoying anti-arab anti-black anti-disability
anti-gay anti-intellectual anti-semitic atheistic biased bigoted blasphemous
bourgeois classist coarse communist corrupting critical crude dangerous
degenerate degrading defamatory defeatist demeaning derogatory destructive
deviant dirty disabilist discriminatory disgusting disloyal disrespectful
disruptive distasteful disturbing divisive elitist ethnocentric erotic
eurocentric exclusionary explicit extremist fascist fifth columnist filthy
frivolous foul gay genderist graphic gross harmful harrassing hateful hate-ist
heterosexist holocaust-denying homophobic homosexual hostile hurtful illegal
immodest immoral impertinent impious impolite improper impure in bad taste
inappropriate indecent indecorous indelicate inflammatory insensitive
insulting intimidating intolerant irregular irreverent judgemental lecherous
lesbian lesbophobic lewd libellous licentious lookist low lubricious lustful
malicious menacing militant misogynistic mocking morbid nationalistic nazi
negative objectifying objectionable obscene off-color offensive orientalist
out of line patriarchal perverted phallocentric pornographic prejudiced
profane provocative prurient questionable racial racially insensitive racist
radical reactionary revisionist risque rude sacrilegious salacious satanic
scandalous scatalogical scurrilous selfish sexist sexual sexually explicit
sexually oriented shameful sinful sizeist slanderous smutty speciesist
stereotyping subversive suggestive supremacist tactless tasteless threatening
treasonous unacceptable unamerican unauthorized unbecoming uncalled-for
unchaste unchristian uncivil unclean undemocratic undesirable undignified
unethical unfair unfit unfitting ungenteel unhealthy unlawful unnatural
unnecessary unmentionable unpatriotic unprofessional unrefined unscientific
unseemly unsuitable untasteful unthinkable untoward unwanted unwelcome
unwholesome outdated violent vulgar wanton xenophobic claptrap.

------
ken
What the Hays Code was for movies in 1930, the Comics Code Authority was for
comics in 1954: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority>

I find it even more shocking because it was created a quarter century later,
and it seems even more ridiculous. Hays covers the content of movies, but the
CCA dictates even the title: "No comic magazine shall use the word horror or
terror in its title".

I'm sure my grandchildren will say exactly the same thing about my generation,
but I cannot imagine how that one word would cause anybody to even blink.

Other awesome things the CCA prohibits: gruesome, gory, unsavory, evil.

~~~
hugh
I find that less shocking, since while films were aimed at a general audience,
comic books were aimed at children. If you read it as a list of things that
are unsuitable for small children then a lot of it still sounds fairly
reasonable (with certain obvious exceptions).

------
Kaizyn
The contents of this post are unconscionable and must be taken down
immediately! Although he claims to condemn the suppression of ideas, Paul
Graham merely provides this community with the most effective tools for such
behavior. Perhaps this is nothing more than a calculated way to profit from
the censure of others all the while claiming to disapprove of such censorious
acts.

------
meatpie
Labels? How incredibly crude! Around here we've got much more sophisticated
method of suppressing unpopular ideas. Like karma.

~~~
kirse
How true... I've actually typed out a few comments before and decided not to
post them because I figured they would just result in a bunch of down-voting
without any response.

These weren't trolling comments either, but legitimate arguments that popular
opinion would probably disagree with.

If pg is really concerned about suppressed ideas, he should require that
people give a response when they downvote and have a separate flag for
"trolling" or "spam"-like comments.

~~~
cconstantine
My understanding is that downvoting is only for trolling or spam-like
comments. Disagreement is good, disagreement can be healthy. A well-spoken (or
even not-poorly-spoken) argument that is contrary to popular opinion should be
_upvoted_.

If we don't allow, or punish, unpopular ideas we'll become a homogeneous mass
with no new ideas.

------
Alex3917
Should orientalist be orientalism? An orientalist is a person who studies
oriental culture, whereas orientalism is the fallacy of constructing ideal
types and then going out into the world to look for confirmatory examples.
Unless orientalist can also mean anti-oriental; that definition isn't in
Merriam-Webster and I don't have web access to the OED right now to check.

~~~
izaidi
I took "orientalist" to be a pejorative in line with Edward Said's
_Orientalism_ \-- i.e., accusing its target of attitudes shaped by Western
imperialism. It's not really correct to use it this way, since "Orientalist"
already has the meaning you describe, but I've seen it a handful of times in
an idea-suppressing context.

------
yelsgib
"Is it wrong to call something unscientific?"

I'm surprised PG didn't follow this with: "Is it wrong to call something
wrong?"

I think that:

wrong, bad, good, evil, should, right, etc.

Form the oldest and most commonly used category of meaningless, superficial,
idea/difference suppressing labels.

~~~
cconstantine
Being unscientific isn't always bad or wrong. Science isn't the One True Path
to Everything Meaningful. Calling something unscientific can be entirely
correct, meaningful, and not derogatory. Using the label 'unscientific' to
demean something that is scientific-but-worthless-or-wrong does a disservice
to everything of value that isn't scientific.

This post wasn't created scientifically, that doesn't mean it's worthless. Ok,
bad example (this post is probably worthless). All art gains it's value from
something outside of science. That doesn't make all art worthless.

Science is an incredibly powerful tool, but it isn't the only one. When all
you have is science, you start to see everything as a nail. Or something like
that...

------
DanielBMarkham
Not one of the better essays. Reminds me of somebody poorly channeling
Chomsky.

Labels are nouns. That's all. Nouns have meaning based on how we use them.
Guess what? Nouns are always imprecise. Language is slippery, my dear friends,
as those of you who ever tried to write a system based on somebody else's
input know.

So we're stuck debating and talking about things with words that flex a lot.
That's why the #1 thing to do in a discussion, debate, or whatever is talk
about terms. It sounds silly, but you have to say things like "when you say
'cat', what exactly do you mean?"

As a political junkie, let me offer an example. Reagan rallied against "tax
and spend liberals" -- folks who thought of solving problems from the top-down
using government funds and power, instead of from the bottom-up. He was so
successful, he inspired a lot of radio commentators who beat the "liberal"
phrase to death. As of today, the best word that describes what "liberal" used
to describe is "progressive", although there are many who are proud to still
be called "liberal"

The kicker is that "liberal" doesn't _really_ mean what Reagan used it for at
all. It originally meant somebody supportive of free speech and action. Heck,
as a libertarian, I am a classic liberal. We all probably are.

But most of us real people who live in the real world are stuck with messy
words like these because humans are not machines. So we say wonderfully
obscenely mushy things like "as a liberal I'm not at all supportive of the
current progressive agenda"

There's a reason the Lincoln-Douglas debates went on for four hours or more.
Language is tough to do. It does not reduce to something like p or ~ q. Labels
only shut you down if you're damn fool enough not to qualify the label as soon
as its used. I'm just glad I'm not writing AI to figure all of this out.

------
cagliost
progressive liberal conservative concensus centre extremist far-right respect

------
mick_m
Funny, the two most common labels I am hearing these days are not on the list:
'liberal' and 'conservative'. In political discussions a lot of ideas are
suppressed - or at least verbally dismissed - using these labels.

~~~
unalone
Don't forget "moderate." Nobody liked Giuliani's being moderate, no no no.
You're not safe ANYWHERE in the scale. Avoid it and you're "apathetic." Get
too complex and you're "elitist" or "flip-flopping" or "hostile" (if the right
crowd catches you trying to explain things).

...Man. I miss George Carlin.

~~~
hugh
_Nobody liked Giuliani's being moderate, no no no._

While he was too moderate for some (as was, for instance, Clinton on the other
side), can you find me an example where "moderate" was used as a term of abuse
against Giuliani?

"Moderate" really doesn't seem to belong on the list. I can't imagine anyone
ever looking shocked and saying "That's such a _X_ thing to say" when X is
"moderate", but it seems to fit for most of the other examples.

~~~
unalone
This might just be on reddit, but I've heard it said before. "If you weren't
such a moderate perhaps you'd be more prone to logic."

But reddit is a bit wonky nowadays anyway, sadly.

------
edw519
Nice list, pg.

I'd like to offer a few "extensions"; that is, words that appear to mean one
thing, but really mean something else altogether. Probably fit neatly into the
idea suppression category...

    
    
      side effects
      2 party system
      best of breed
      Department of Defense
      early detection
      diversity
      Patriot Act
      war on drugs
      98% fat free
      politically correct
      national pasttime
      news
      right to life
      choice
      road rage
      baby boomer
      SUV
      write your congressman
      fast food
      HMO
      insurance
      alternative music
      higher education
      affirmative action
      moral majority
      side dish
      soft drink
      cure
      cofactor
      cause
      leading indicators
      inalienable rights
      with liberty and justice for all
      sitcom
      expert
      talking head
      preferred provider
      copay
      deductible
      IRS
      legal right of way
      public servant
      impartial
      defense of marriage

~~~
jrockway
Huh? This sounds like a list of things that annoys you, not words used to
dismiss otherwise relevant arguments.

~~~
gaika
I take it as a list of things that are used to suppress ideas by attaching
misleading labels to them.

