Sometime around 2016, the word “Latinx” popped onto the linguistic radar. The term is a new way to identify the Hispanic ethnic group: not Latina, not Latino, but Latinx, a gender neutral word designed to include everyone of every identity.
Personally, I’m all for referring to someone as they’d reasonably like me to for the sake of respect. I recognize that occasionally a term in popular circulation is antiquated. I have no problem adjusting when I see it necessary. Language is fluid, after all.
But, amid the constant influx of novel politically correct terminology like “Latinx,” the clamor to adopt the proper newspeak has been rash and ill-considered. It’s as though nobody has stopped to ask: Am I representing this group in accordance with their wishes?
Nonetheless, our culture continues to flock to faddish newspeak at a dizzying rate. The word women has been eradicated in favor of womxn, LGBT has evolved into LGBTTQQIAAP (or longer by some estimations), and the phrase BIPOC seemingly appeared out of thin air in recent months.
The remarkable irony of it all? The very minority groups who are the supposed beneficiaries of such speech do not actually feel served by it. Non-minorities speaking on their behalf seem to be more offended and outraged than the supposed victims. They are most often the ones enforcing new linguistic rules and chastising those unfamiliar with the latest terms.
If the Gallup poll reveals anything, it’s this: linguistic gymnastics is just self-serving virtue signaling. These PC terms are merely a means to make the speaker feel more enlightened. Our culture, therefore, should question the rush to faddish, performative lingo. We must instead champion action that will affect actual and meaningful change.