Scott Shackford on the Language Police and Learning from Trolls

Charles Schulz

It seems as though Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg's campaign to "ban bossy" is not going to have the traction she wants. In fact, her efforts resulted in a cultural backlash where the word ended up tossed around left and right. As a tech and social media professional, Sandberg should have predicted the response. The trolls are always looking for ways to upset people and will defy efforts to police language the way rum-runners defied efforts to ban alcohol. Reason's Scott Shackford explains that attempting to make the world around you responsible for your emotional well-being through language choices is just giving certain reprehensible people the blueprint on exactly how to hurt you.