geni wrote:
On 11/9/06, Michael Snow wikipedia@earthlink.net wrote:
Since we started using personal pronouns, whenever that was. I wasn't around then, but I suspect it was fairly early on.
--Michael Snow
Agressive use of singular they generaly solves that proble,
Come now, that's silly, and I'm not sure what "problem" you're talking about. I have no issues with singular "they" when talking about a person whose gender is unknown or abstract ("a contributor should preview their edits"). I've used it myself on many occasions. But I'm not going to write something like, "Angela Beesley resigned their seat on the Board of Trustees. They endorsed Erik Möller as their replacement." Wilful ignorance is just stupid.
I wrote to encourage more members of an under-represented group to run in an election. I did not suggest that we should have quotas or set aside any positions for that group, or that voters should prefer any individual candidate on the basis of group membership. Despite that, considering some of the reaction to my message, it would be very natural for people in the group to sense an unfriendly attitude toward them, and thus to withdraw and make the under-representation even worse. Is it any wonder that some people think we have problems with groupthink and systemic bias?
--Michael Snow