One further thought about Weird Als Word Crimes: Yes, 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.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 13:02:25 +0000
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