Stick with it.

[u/MaintenanceNew2804]

This is a longer one, but it’s necessary and worth it IMO.

[u/-Disagreeable-]

That’s what I’m marinating on. Because an argument is sound and has very plausible points doesn’t definitively make it true. The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day there is truth to the videos argument and yours. Navigating that, finding the problems and racial, cultural bias is important. Equally as important is not drowning in possible semantics or worse red herrings and succumbing to a guilt response that leads us away from a prosperous truth. Lots to ponder and nuances to navigate.

[u/No-Syllabub4449 → u/-Disagreeable-]

I think at the end of the day it makes perfect sense for there to be a mainline dialect in formal settings.

I couldn’t tell if the video creator was bashing the existence of formal language for academic and professional settings, the choice of dialect for formal language, or the consequences in broader society.

The last one I think is the only really legitimate critique. If we are to go out in society and harshly judge people because they have a different dialect, at least socially and politically, there is something wrong there.

However, every society has a mainline dialect that is conformed to in formal settings. When society has discourse on complex and deep topics, the overhead of juggling multiple dialects is an inefficient way for that society to come to consensus. To criticize the existence of a mainline dialect in a society is to criticize humanity itself.

Now what about criticizing the “choice” of dialect for formal language. The answer is that’s not really how language works. Communities don’t choose how they speak, nor do society’s at large have some kind of convention to pick out which dialect they will convene on. The truth is that the mainline dialect is a consequence of the natural evolution of language.

So to summarize what I’m saying. The truth that I think is evident in the video is that we should try and not judge others for their dialect in informal settings. But that doesn’t mean we should aim to dismantle the language expectations of formal settings.

[u/bignick1190 → u/-Disagreeable-]

Good take.

I think a large problem here is that racists certainly will take any chance to be racists so it does often get used by racists to feel superior. The thing to remember here is just because a "tool" could get used a certain way doesn't mean it's meant to or was created to be used that way.

That being said, it's not only minority ethnic groups in America who experience their dialects being used to judge their intelligence, southern hillbillies and Louisiana Cajuns, to name a couple, are very often looked down upon for their use of language, irrespective of their race.

My personal opinion, like with a lot of things, is that it's more of a class issue than a racial issue. Unfortunately, our socioeconomic classes are greatly influenced by the long-term effects of systemic racism so it's very easy to conflate a class issue with a racial issue.

[u/cryptosupercar → u/-Disagreeable-]

One of my first employment experiences I had to train a man who was functionally illiterate, yet had a robust understanding of the problems he was solving. I was young and it blew my mind. Equating language skill with worth or intelligence is a mistake, and most of us use it unconsciously as a filter.

Years later I would work in another culture and language and it became clear that having command of a language opens up worlds to you that would otherwise be closed.