• zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          I think ideograms suck because they are an extremely bad writing system

          That’s nice, but what you originally said was that “the Japanese don’t have a functional writing system”, which is bigoted, because it constitutes an unreasonable belief/prejudice against a particular group of people (“the Japanese”). It’s an unreasonable position because the Japanese writing system is obviously functional, as millions of people use it to great effect every day.

          imperial units suck because they are an extremely bad measurement system

          This is not bigotry because it isn’t an unreasonable belief, and it doesn’t target/prejudice against one specific group (other than ‘imperial measurement users’, which isn’t really an identifying or culturally significant group).

          Bonus question: If I say it’s an excellent time to drop the Gregorian calendar do I win at racism for expanding it to the whole world?

          Bonus answer: no, bigotry targets/prejudices against a specific identifying group. “The whole world” doesn’t qualify as a group that you can be bigoted against. Hating everyone makes you a grumpy curmudgeon, but not a racist.

          Hope this helps.

            • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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              4 months ago

              I’m not being dishonest, I paraphrased.

              Excellent time for the Japanese to drop ideogram/logogram system and have an alphabet like a functional language.

              Your original comment (included above for convenience) very clearly implies that Japanese is not a functional language because it doesn’t use an alphabet. I didn’t misrepresent you at all.

              “Imperial measurement users” are an “identifying or culturally significant group”, they are called Americans

              First, plenty of other places other than America, Liberia, and Myanmar use imperial units. And even if they didn’t, the inclusion of Liberia and Myanmar means “imperial system users” isn’t just identifying Americans, so you’re just flat out incorrect about that. I’m ignoring the bit where you said “[Liberia and Myanmar] are not culturally significant groups over the internet” because that implies that you think bigotry only exists on the Internet, or maybe you think you can only be bigoted against a group with a large enough Internet presence or something? Which I know you can’t possibly think, so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt there and chalking that up to a miscommunication.

              Second, bigotry necessarily involves holding an unreasonable position or belief. The belief that the imperial system is worse than metric is not unreasonable, because there’s evidence supporting that belief, and there’s even a large number of imperial system users that hold that belief. The belief that it’s “time for the Japanese to drop ideogram/logogram system and have an alphabet like a functional language” is unreasonable for the reasons I explained previously.

              Third, it doesn’t matter what ethnicity or nationality you used, the structure of your statement would still be bigoted, because it would still be an unreasonable belief that prejudices against a particular group of people.

              Hope this helps.

                • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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                  4 months ago

                  Is the belief that the logographic system is worse than alphabets (and abugidas, for that matter) unreasonable?

                  Lol yes. Both systems have benefits and drawbacks, it’s unreasonable to say either is “worse” than the other. It’s certainly not as clear-cut as the comparison between the imperial and metric systems.

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          I think ideograms suck because they are an extremely bad writing system, and imperial units suck because they are an extremely bad measurement system

          And I think you suck because you are an extremely bad person.

          Equivalent statement right?

                • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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                  4 months ago

                  Excellent time for the Japanese to drop ideogram/logogram system and have an alphabet like a functional language.

                  “All I said is that the Japanese do not have a functional language. I don’t understand where people think I was being derogatory about a specific race.”