What are your preferred adverbs?

But who says that’s even a thing?

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province.

See the way that’s worded suggests that “preferred pronouns” are the normal everyday established form of pronouns when in fact they’re the invention of crazed magic-gender ideologues. There’s no such thing as “preferred pronouns.” That idea is a new and stupid invention. Teachers shouldn’t be paying any attention to them at all, and neither should students.

In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July.

The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy – also known as Policy 713 – removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity.

Notice how careful the BBC is to be unclear. The issue there is boys ruining girls’ sports by invading them, but the Beeb pretends it’s just a vague neutral “sports teams” versus “gender identity.” If they were clear about it, most people would think “Well obviously boys shouldn’t be ruining girls’ sports.”

More controversially, the changes – as explained by the province’s education minister Bill Hogan – also forbid teachers from using [to use] the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents.

Again, the casual normalization of the absurd. There’s no such thing as “chosen pronouns” because we don’t get to tell other people what pronouns they can use. We get to tell people what name to call us, because that relates just to us. We don’t get to tell people what verbs or conjunctions or pronouns to use because that’s way too broad.

Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in, igniting a debate on the issue at the federal level.

At a Pride event earlier in June, Mr Trudeau said that “trans kids in New Brunswick are being told they don’t have the right to be their true self, that they need to ask permission”.

But it isn’t their “true self.” That’s the whole point. It’s their imaginary, fantasy, pretend self. People are allowed to have such fantasies – I even think they’re a good thing in a lot of ways, especially for kids. Use your imagination by all means. Share your fantasies in like-minded groups if you want to. But demanding that the whole world join in is demanding way too much.

7 Responses to “What are your preferred adverbs?”