On the Sidewalks of New York is a weekly feature at Human Events wherein Jacqueline Toboroff, a native New Yorker, will share her observations and candid commentary on the goings-on in our nation’s largest city. Wherever you live, and whatever you feel, there is no escaping the fact that New York City matters. ***** […]
On the Sidewalks of New York is a weekly feature at Human Events wherein Jacqueline Toboroff, a native New Yorker, will share her observations and candid commentary on the goings-on in our nation’s largest city. Wherever you live, and whatever you feel, there is no escaping the fact that New York City matters.
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It seems pretty clear the vast majority of Americans don’t spend much time thinking about pronouns. First, there are genuinely calamitous issues as far away as China and as close as our living room; be they Communism or paying the rent. Second, those of us that can speak English have been bequeathed and passed on a language with deep roots and yes, diverse cultures.
Old English is a combination of West Germanic dialects spoken by Anglo Saxon settlers and dates back to the 5th century in Great Britain. Approximately three centuries later, Old English evolved due to Norse speaking Viking settlers. After the Norman conquest of England, Middle English came about in the 11th century creating a mixture including Germanic and Latin vocabulary. In the 15th century, Early Modern English began, with more Latin and Greek derivatives.
English is the leading language in the world. There are over 400 million native speakers and it is spoken by more than 2 billion people. It’s the leading second language for those who weren’t born with it as their first. English is the official language for over 59 countries.
The point is, for over 1,500 years, English has been around and passed on from generation to generation. It’s a financial, social, and security currency that carries gravitas and has lifted millions out of poverty. Now, suddenly post BLM’s ushering in of CRT, we’re supposed to reject our time-honored language, dig up, hatchet, and chainsaw our roots, repudiate the biggest unifier in the world, and supplicate ourselves to an infinitesimally small group of confused individuals. Ironically, these wordsmiths are the ones that won’t shut up about inclusivity and diversity.
Recently, twitter verified Jameela Jamil went on a verbal diarrhea diatribe. “She/her” said she “accidentally misgendered” someone “who was rude to [‘she/her’]”, and then, as only this sort of person can do, led her followers on a journey of emotional duress ranging from anger to apology to anger and a public service announcement born out of self-serving entitlement. “I instantly corrected myself but NOBODY reads your bios. PLEASE include your pronouns”; screamy lock caps for emphasis. There’s always a more oppressed group jumping to the top of the injustice collector hierarchy. The point is, If these people are so irredeemably confused, how the hell can they demand others catch on to their fantastical destruction of the English language and common sense?
Furthermore, how are the “New Americans” welcomed in by the Left expected to grasp what native English speakers can’t follow? Will illegals be punished for misgendering? Many of them come from South America, the Middle East, and Africa; English isn’t their first language and perhaps their countries of origin still adhere to pronouns based on biological truths.
What about schools? American children are already academically behind Chinese, Russian, and Israeli students. They’re focused on things like math, coding, and graduating with skills. American kids are struggling to be grade level proficient; this was true even before COVID shutdowns and CRT injections. All research indicates the gap has widened dramatically post 2020 due to the response to COVID and the forced error of CRT. As per Karol Markowicz’s NY Post article, The National Assessment of Educational Progress shows the first-ever drop in math and the largest drop in reading in more than 30 years.
A solid argument can be made that focusing on anything other than core curriculum is child abuse. American students are at such a disadvantage, unable to compete internationally, be self-sufficient, and provide for a family they might not be able to afford.
Gone are the days of prolific literary geniuses and orators. It’s a bygone era when the majority of graduates were able to recite notable iconic texts and parts of famous speeches. We now have luminary, product of the American school system, and Vice President Harris announce; 'I am Kamala Harris, my pronouns are she and her, and I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit.' This went viral because the public recognized it for what it was, imbecilic. Such ramblings would have formerly been attributed to an escaped mental patient. But Biden takes the cake. The White House has a “Gender Policy Council.” GPC (I can’t believe this gets an acronym) was established by President Biden to advance gender equity and equality in both domestic and foreign policy development and implementation. While previous administrations have had offices focused on women and girls—including the White House Council on Women and Girls under President Obama and the Office of Women’s Initiatives and Outreach under President Clinton—the Gender Policy Council is the first freestanding policy council focused on gender equity and equality within the Executive Office of the President.” Well, thank G-d, we definitely need the first freestanding GPC.
Here in crumbling New York, one would think a robust effort would be underway to combat crime, fix failed schools, deter drugs, and address the ballooning homeless crisis. Our local rulers are instead busy torturing the English language. Governor Hochul announced “that the State University of New York Board of Trustees directed all 64 SUNY campuses to update their policies regarding the use of a chosen name and pronouns to ensure that transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary students' identities are fully reflected and represented in campus systems”, according to the Governor’s website. "Every person, regardless of their gender identity or the name they choose to go by, deserves to have identity documentation that reflects who they are," said Hochul.
This is the same Governor that told 5.4 million New York Republicans to relocate. Clearly she’s all about acceptance.
Let me put it like this, after that address given by Biden on September 1st 2022, whereby he recklessly denigrated at least 80 million people by calling them Fascists, the time for zero reciprocity is done. If a hateful, angry, confused minority refuses to accept varying political views, their demands for respect are denied.
