Writing 2121F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Epicanthic Fold, Ad Hominem, Political Correctness

• School: Western University
• Department: Writing
• Course: Writing 2121F/G
• Professor: Marielle Aylen

Document Summary

Must be aware of the denotative definitions that words carry. Pejorative: simultaneously acknowledges and dismisses the position of writer: that view is politically correct : i. e. the writer is being overly sensitive to racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, etc. Avoid the term: it dismisses rather than analyzes ideas (ad hominem attack: someone who attacks the speaker, rather than the idea. Race = biological subjects: was based on faulty premise that pigmentation and other aspects of biology (e. g. epicanthic fold) differentiate people in other ways (capacities, personality traits, dispositions, etc. , a form of speciesism. Ethnicity = displaces race, and refers to historically and culturally constituted groups: ex. Latino, hispanic, african-american, japanese-canadian, first nations: history produces identity, not biology, recognizes differences between and among communities. Language, religion, mores, beliefs, cultural practices: recognizes that the differences are social and historical in origin, can acknowledge that markers of biological difference figures in ethnicity.