(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Deprogramming [1] ['Greg Dworkin', 'Chloris Creator', 'Sabrina Haake', 'Matthew Adarichev', 'Bill In Portland Maine'] Date: 2026-06-24 Deprogramming Reading the title, more than a few probably thought it refered to maga or some other cult in vogue, alas it refers to society’s programming and its stubborn resistance to change. One of the rather more recent “culture wars” as they are called, has been this slow growing movement against doing what’s right, changing language, caring for others issues, etc… the phrase ‘this is why we lose” appears more and more frequently in exchanges that challenge phrasing or cultural content. It is used to shut down those who defend certain groups or criticism of actions that are often undinstinguishable from the right. It is an instinctive rebuttal, one born from resistance to change. When as a society we start associating people who are trying to do right, have a certain mindset as weak, pathetic… something again is wrong, very wrong. It’s an unspoken decision that meanness is acceptable depending on the goal. But, is it? No one (unless they were racist) had an issue with the restrictions put on the N word or the R word, but as awareness spread and people were asked to be more careful of other words, resentment brewed, but even those that weren’t resentful per se, grew tired, the task after all is daunting and well the cost wasn’t worth it, to most. It is not unusual for a member of a certain group to acquiesce to things, while flinching inside, or worse having grown up in this culture just internalized the hits to the point of not noticing the damage being done. Often the argument is provided that such and such members of a community don’t mind if this word is used… that is not a proven argument, on the contrary internalization of social attitudes is quite common in marginalized groups. Let’s analyze something in context that today’s society frowns upon (for the most part) corporal punishment. Once upon a time this method of disciplining children was universally accepted and even encouraged, but society has moved away from it, realizing that each blow no matter its intent, left a scar visible or not upon a child. The same can be said for demeaning language. The irony is, children that have grown up in the era of he/him they/them she/her, find nothing wrong with it, they didn’t have wires to uncross or new connections to make, they just grew up with it. This should serve to inform society on the best ways to combat ingrained attitudes. Teach them young. Older generations grew up with different wirings and those wirings were not up to the standards that very society aspires to, let’s fix them while they haven’t been made yet. Deprogramming, starts and ends in the brain. That is why, language (and thought) is the best tool for deprogramming learned behaviors and attitudes. While it’s a daunting task, it is well worth the frustration, the end being a society that truly respects diversity, respects it enough to not denigrate it within the culture in all mediums of expression. #TheAmericanHaitianPoet Muriel Vieux – June 16th, 2026 – ©All rights reserved Paypal.me/murielvieux [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/24/800059957/community/deprogramming/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/