Quora is seriously pissing me the fuck off!

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Full text of comment:
"Shanequessa is a made-up name; Google hadn’t heard of it until this thread appeared."

SO. EFFING. WHAT? It still sounds stereotypically black, so unless you're black, making fun of that name IS. STILL. RACISM.

"Why do you suppose the O.P. invented a name? I’m guessing it’s that he is not talking about other “black-sounding” names; just black-sounding names that are literally or virtually unique."

Guess in one hand and spit in the other, see which one has more reality.

"While it’s true that white parents, too, give their children unique names, the practice is largely confined to white celebrities."

BS. And a moot point anyway. S/he could have chosen a weird white-people name as an example, and the fact they chose a stereotypically black-sounding name means that unless they're also black, they are a racist.

Racism is a spectrum. Everyone white is at least a little bit racist. It's not "either you're a good person or you're a KKK member." Being racist doesn't necessarily make you a bad person, just an ignorant person. Defending your racism when it's called out DOES make you a bad person, though. It's a difference between something you can't help after living as a white person in a racist society, and choosing to double down on your racism.

"As your reply illustrates, the word racist has been stretched to mean whatever a critic wants it to mean. Today, someone who would like college admissions to be color-blind is called a racist."

Have you ever been afraid of police because you were worried about being murdered by some coward with a badge who thought you looked dangerous? Have you ever hated the color of your skin with so much desperation that you risked poisoning yourself to change it? Have you ever

"Small wonder that Merriam-Webster includes this caveat..."

Dictionaries are made by white people. So their definitions are by default going to favor white people. Asking a white person to define racism is like asking a straight person to define homophobia, or a cis person to define transphobia. Or asking a misogynist to define misogyny.

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I ask you, what the BLOODY HELL is wrong with that comment? Gods, I wish I had the money to buy Quora so I could buy it and repeal that idiotic fucking policy or rewrite it to something sensible!

Stupid exception to a good rule

I want to talk about rules that make perfect sense until someone starts putting in weird exceptions. Specifically, the rule that says you use "A" before a consonant (like "A witch" or "A donkey") and "An" before a vowel, like "an afternoon" or "an obstacle."

That rule makes perfect sense as it is, and is why I always get so angry at stuff like "an historical document." H is a consonant in that word, so it should be "A historical document." Having “An” before “Hour” makes sense because the H in Hour is silent, but if the word has a consonant H, it should be "A" not "An." It always fills me with rage when people do it the wrong way.

And yes, I know "an historic" is the official "correct" way to say it, but it's a bloody stupid exception to an otherwise sensible rule and so it may be correct but it's still Wrong.