Remember all those classic stories about computers watching your every move. We live in that best of all possible worlds. Unfortunately, our tech overlords are human and they keep programming the computers to police our behavior and our thoughts.
On that note, Google Docs will now “flag” language that isn’t sufficiently inclusive or that the lefty corp deems discriminatory.
You’ll see suggestions when there are opportunities to structure a sentence with an active voice or when a sentence can be more concise, helping to make your writing more impactful. Potentially discriminatory or inappropriate language will be flagged, along with suggestions on how to make your writing more inclusive and appropriate for your audience.
Conflating grammatical and political corrections are typical of the way that the Left tries to embed its agendas by associating them with real problems.
And since lefties these days reject grammar in the name of equity, all that’s really left is politically correcting writing.
For now this is a “nudge”. It prompts the millions who use the service to reshape their writing to comply with Google’s political views. Down the road, the nudges become mandatory.
That’s how it works.
Enjoy a future in which you won’t be allowed to write, save, or email a document that an algorithm has flagged for political correctness.
If you think that’s an improbable conspiracy theory, let me remind you that censorship on social media began the same way with ‘nudges’, prompts and flagging, and then escalated to constant monitoring, flagging, and deletion.
They will go there.
sally farmer says
It is up to all of us to invent platforms that serve the public without all this nonsense. With a bit of luck they will become a sad relic of the past with zero uptake
mortimer says
Agree. Such moves against the freedom of expression will eventually cause an exodus of the most creative people from everything GOOGLE. Only the dull-witted, unimaginative conformists and compliant, craven cowards will remain on GOOGLE … the platform of the thought-slaves.
George Orwell was right.
Infidel says
Maybe start w/ LibreOffice, which has the source code available, and use it as long as it doesn’t have all that nonsense. Once it does, take the source code and compile it into a new package that normal people can use
Check Burry says
Yet we have GBnews, very much a Freedom of speech TV News station, encouraging replies via these 3 horses of apoclapists, surely they should be encouraging those wanting free speech to find another platform.
Infidel says
Does Mark Steyn now live in the UK, or does he appear on GBnews from New Hampshire or Vermont or wherever else he lives in New England?
gravenimage says
Mark Steyn mostly lives and works out of New Hampshire now.
Ugly Sid says
In the nineteen fifties, purveyors of science fiction feared a future of tyranny achieved by misdirection and manipulation.
They may have past to the afterlife. Their nightmares, not so much.
CogitoErgoSum says
Didn’t they once use the motto “Do no evil”…? Yeah, they dropped that because they wanted to be more inclusive and let evil be a part of their business.
gravenimage says
That was “Don’t be Evil”, CogitoErgoSum. I believe they dropped that motto some years back…
CogitoErgoSum says
Well, that’s perfect. Makes me laugh even more.
Roland says
Will Google Docs also do this for Arabic,Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Malay, and Indonesian, the most commonly used Islamic languages?
Keith O says
Hahahahaha, you so funny!
roberta says
Here is something inclusive for them to censor: Biden’s last act as pretend president will be to pardon Hunter and the entire Biden crime family.
Keith O says
The more I hear of this sort of BS the happier I am that I’m getting old and won’t have to put up with this for too much longer.
My only concern is for the world I will be leaving my daughter in!
Westman says
Google joins Disney in an open invitation for competition and avoidance.
Remember when there was no DuckDuckGo? Does anyone notice that Google’s software is getting as messy as Microsoft and Google has a spy in every Android operating system?
Even China has a spy in tens of millions of cheap IP cameras all across the US and UK. China is likely gathering visual data in Ukraine for Russia.
gravenimage says
Google Docs Will Flag ‘Discriminatory’ or ‘Non-Inclusive’ Language
Conflating grammatical and political corrections are typical of the way that the Left tries to embed its agendas by associating them with real problems.
……………….
Yes–these are completely different matters.
More:
And since lefties these days reject grammar in the name of equity, all that’s really left is politically correcting writing.
……………….
Increasingly the Left rejects grammatically correct writing–so trying to conflate the two is especially dishonest.
“University: Proper grammar can be racist”
https://www.news10.com/news/university-proper-grammar-can-be-racist/
More:
You’ll see suggestions when there are opportunities to structure a sentence with an active voice or when a sentence can be more concise, helping to make your writing more impactful.
……………….
“Impactful” itself is *terrible* writing. I already feel free to ignore any suggestions Google Docs may make…
More:
For now this is a “nudge”. It prompts the millions who use the service to reshape their writing to comply with Google’s political views. Down the road, the nudges become mandatory.
……………….
That’s the fear, isn’t it? Will the time come where Google Docs won’t allow you to save a document if you use what is deemed “non-inclusive language”? Or–worse yet–that it reports your “crime” to the authorities?
Infidel says
All of these issues are one thing in English, but how does that work itself in other languages? Not all the world speaks English – not even a majority!
I’d love to be a fly on the wall to see how these gender & race grammar works itself out in languages like Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, et al
gravenimage says
Infidel, I could be wrong, but I rather doubt that Google Docs will try to do this with languages where most of the speakers are Muslim.
Rufolino says
The other day I left a comment on the “Pinterest” site, quoting Churchill on the Koran :- “Wherever that book exists there will be blood.”
It was not permitted. Pinterest disallowed the comment, rejecting it.
gravenimage says
Grimly, this sort of thing is not just being done by Google.