[Mike Monteiro]

Such a great piece about language, discrimination, and how we can avoid limiting our own thoughts. It's all delivered through the lens of the MSG scare in the 1970s, which turns out to have been pretty racist:

"Monosodium Glutamate is a flavor enhancer. Like salt, but it’s actually lower in sodium. It’s been around forever. It occurs naturally in tomatoes and some cheeses. And yes, it’s used in a lot of Chinese cooking. But it’s far from exclusive to Chinese cooking.

[...] while very racist Americans felt safe using more direct racist language in certain circumstances, sometimes it became useful to wrap it in a veneer of an inconsequentially stupid opinion."

And that inconsequential language, those seemingly-benign opinions, burrow into us and take hold forever. So, as Mike argues, will it be for today's rebrand of white supremacist ideas as "DEI hires". The time to put a stop to it is now.

#Democracy

[Link]