reclaimthenet on Nostr: Microsoft Word has evolved far beyond grammar checks. Meet the “Inclusivity ...
Microsoft Word has evolved far beyond grammar checks. Meet the “Inclusivity Checker”—an update that turns your writing into a minefield of suggested corrections. Now, instead of “mother” and “father,” we get “birth-related leave” and “child-bonding leave," all courtesy of Microsoft’s algorithmic activism.
The idea is that these changes will support “all genders,” but it’s hard not to see this as an effort to erase basic, universally understood language. Writers get their “problematic” words underlined in blue, and alternatives pop up to align with the latest inclusivity dogmas. You can opt-out…for now. But the fact that this tech even exists in Word—and over in Google Docs, where “housewife” becomes “stay-at-home spouse”—feels like a digital-age attempt to rewrite culture itself.
Who decides what’s “problematic” and what’s not? We’re inching closer to the type of language policing predicted in dystopian fiction, and it’s fair to wonder: How much longer until opt-out isn’t even an option?
The idea is that these changes will support “all genders,” but it’s hard not to see this as an effort to erase basic, universally understood language. Writers get their “problematic” words underlined in blue, and alternatives pop up to align with the latest inclusivity dogmas. You can opt-out…for now. But the fact that this tech even exists in Word—and over in Google Docs, where “housewife” becomes “stay-at-home spouse”—feels like a digital-age attempt to rewrite culture itself.
Who decides what’s “problematic” and what’s not? We’re inching closer to the type of language policing predicted in dystopian fiction, and it’s fair to wonder: How much longer until opt-out isn’t even an option?