The Wordsmith's Forge

>> The goal of this obscene drama is not to fix things, it's to provide yet another shibboleth to distinguish "us" from "them". <<

I agree, and that's why I dislike it.

>> One way in which it does this is by tending to exclude people on the autistic spectrum, who often didn't internalize "correct" racial attitudes in the first place(*), and equally often lack the social instincts to spot a change in requirements and shift to the new ones smoothly. (Whereas normal people often shift so smoothly that they forget that the requirements were ever different.) <<

Particularly when they don't bother to write down either the old or the new rules.

>> As an autistic person, I found this switchover extremely threatening. I could all too easily lose promotion possibilities, or even my job, for failing to switch in sync with the latest in shibboleths.<<

The same is true for people who don't readily adapt to such changes for other reasons (e.g. second-language learners, people with brain injuries) or simply disagree with them. It's a problem.

>> So I put a lot of effort into figuring out the new rules. <<

Thus raising the risk of autistic burnout. >_<

>> There probably are people - mostly young, naive ones - who believe that this is actually helping. And at the margins, it might be helping a few black people, though like as not at the expense of others. But IMNSHO, that's pretty much not the point.<<

That makes sense.

I mean, if you want to know what to do or what's working, it's pretty straightforward. Ask the people affected by it. They can usually identify what they need and whether a given solution is helpful, useless, or harmful. If the people pushing something are mostly not the target group? Be suspicious. And follow the money.

>> (*) I, as an example, had to have my misunderstanding of who "looked black" corrected in both directions when I was in my late teens.<<

It's a fashion that changes. Used to be hair texture was the leading qualifier, now it's mostly skin tone. But measuring skin tone is rude because racists have done it.

>> I cared that little about knowing how to correctly assign people to categories the normals had all incorrectly internalized as being innate and obvious. <<

While I appreciate cultural differences, and I'm aware of historical baggage, I can't really take "race" seriously because I know too much biology.

>> Of course by that time I'd already read enough to know that "Jewish" or "Semitic" had been a "race" even in my parents' lifetime. <<

Yyyyeah.

>>I also recall finding (some) black people beautiful, a a child, and envying them their appearance. I.e. some of the normal programming sailed over my autistic head, and more was directly challenged contradicted by my left wing intellectual parents. <<

I really, really did not pick up most cultural programming from this culture. I mean, so much of it is crud. Fortunately I had other options. My parents supported that, being hippies and teachers and whatnot. They hunted high and low for then-rare toys and books of different cultures.

>>And even then, I formed a friendship with a black girl "from the islands", who hadn't picked up normal US black socialization in spite of being raised at least partly in New York.<<

Go you. The Caribbean has a very different perspective on race than America does.

>>But the whole area has been one of the many where I never was "normal". <<

"It is no great sign of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."