"Philosophers" wrestle with Weird Al:
"My two cents: yes, he is over-committed to the authorial voice here, but it is also his, and it is the voice of most people sharing the post, none of whom ever pull back from the idea that grammatical and usage mistakes are unquestionably emblems of supposedly lesser intelligence. He never makes fun of the people making fun of grammar mistakes, he develops authority through prescriptivist mansplaining. Please let me know if you see people sharing this video in the belief that it actually makes fun of the grammar police. Of course, I will be teaching with the video in my writing AND disability studies classes. The video is a perfect way to get into not just all the "crime" that words like "moron" have empowered (including the eugenics that still encourages people to say "get out of the gene pool") but it also perfectly shows how we have ALWAYS used arbitrary grammar and usage rules to segregate, stigmatize, and harm non-normative minds and bodies. When the precursors to our modern literacy tests were being developed at Ellis Island, it was Henry Goddard using them to reinforce his invention of the term "moron" as a way to dial back the humanity of specific racial and ethnic groups. "Literacy" has always used disability in these ways.
I think that what Shelley is objecting to is not necessarily the placement of the video on this site, but the uncritical placement of the video on the site. Most of the time, as Jon said, people are totally OK with using insults that derogate disability. Here, Shelley is saying it isn't OK on this blog to ignore the history. I agree."
Well, I. It's uh...what da.../scratches head while dropping cigarette from lips.
"My two cents: yes, he is over-committed to the authorial voice here, but it is also his, and it is the voice of most people sharing the post, none of whom ever pull back from the idea that grammatical and usage mistakes are unquestionably emblems of supposedly lesser intelligence. He never makes fun of the people making fun of grammar mistakes, he develops authority through prescriptivist mansplaining. Please let me know if you see people sharing this video in the belief that it actually makes fun of the grammar police. Of course, I will be teaching with the video in my writing AND disability studies classes. The video is a perfect way to get into not just all the "crime" that words like "moron" have empowered (including the eugenics that still encourages people to say "get out of the gene pool") but it also perfectly shows how we have ALWAYS used arbitrary grammar and usage rules to segregate, stigmatize, and harm non-normative minds and bodies. When the precursors to our modern literacy tests were being developed at Ellis Island, it was Henry Goddard using them to reinforce his invention of the term "moron" as a way to dial back the humanity of specific racial and ethnic groups. "Literacy" has always used disability in these ways.
I think that what Shelley is objecting to is not necessarily the placement of the video on this site, but the uncritical placement of the video on the site. Most of the time, as Jon said, people are totally OK with using insults that derogate disability. Here, Shelley is saying it isn't OK on this blog to ignore the history. I agree."
Well, I. It's uh...what da.../scratches head while dropping cigarette from lips.
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