Not even when they are clearly ‘the smaller of two groups that constitute a whole.’
According to an op-ed in University of Oregon student newspaper, it’s wrong for conservatives to say they’re ever “a minority” in certain environments, because the word “minority” is basically just not for straight/white/cisgender people.
“While it would be technically accurate to say that conservatives are a minority on, for example, the University of Oregon campus, this narrative is often accompanied with words like ‘discrimination’ and ‘oppression,’” Jadyn (Logan) Marks writes in a piece for the school paper, the Daily Emerald. “What these people really mean to imply is that they are marginalized.”
“By referring to themselves as minorities and taking the language reserved for marginalized communities, conservatives are drawing attention away from communities who actually experience discrimination, or prejudiced treatment, and oppression, or ‘unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power,’” she continues.
Marks explains that any news stories about conservatives being “a minority” in certain spaces — whether true or not — constitute “a misconstrued understanding of what a minority is, and inappropriately use language associated with marginalized communities.” Basically, since they don’t have to deal with things such as “the pay gap, higher rates of incarceration, or the right to marry (which was ruled on only three years ago),” they have absolutely no business using the word to describe themselves.
Here’s the thing, though: Like many words in the English language, the word “minority” actually has several different meanings. Yes, the same word can mean different things in different contexts! Interestingly enough, Marks herself actually refers to this fact in her piece:
“According to Merriam-Webster, the word minority has three definitions: being underage, the smaller of two groups which constitute a whole, and ‘a part of a population differing from others in some characteristics and often subjected to differential treatment.’”
So Marks clearly understands that the word can also simply mean “the smaller of two groups which constitute a whole” — a definition that has nothing to do with discrimination or oppression — and yet she somehow still feels that it cannot be used this way by conservatives. Sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense. Saying, for example, that “conservatives are in the minority in Hollywood” is a factually true, literally correct statement, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying it. The truth is, Marks’s piece was nothing more than her making something out of absolutely nothing.
Note: The piece does not address whether or not people who are ethnic minorities and also conservatives are allowed to use the phrase “conservatives are a minority.” Perhaps Marks doesn’t realize that not all conservatives are straight white cisgender men.
This story was previously covered in an article on The College Fix.
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