Scott Shackford on the Language Police and Learning from Trolls

It seems
as though Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg’s campaign to “ban
bossy” is not going to have the traction she wants. In fact, her
efforts resulted in a cultural backlash where the word ended up
tossed around left and right. As a tech and social media
professional, Sandberg should have predicted the response. The
trolls are always looking for ways to upset people and will defy
efforts to police language the way rum-runners defied efforts to
ban alcohol. Reason’s Scott Shackford explains that attempting to
make the world around you responsible for your emotional well-being
through language choices is just giving certain reprehensible
people the blueprint on exactly how to hurt you.

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