The New Yorker is a magazine with a high opinion of itself and is so politically correct that most ISACers would banish it to their bogs. I recently wrote to the editor to ask why it capitalized the word “black” for black people but used a small letter for “white” people. This looked like racism, I suggested. I received a reply which is as convoluting and confused as most of the articles which appear in the magazine. The gist of it is that anyone who thinks “white” should also be capitalized is a white supremacist. The reply even admits the magazine´s inconsistency but tough luck whitey. That´s the way they do things at the New Yorker. Read it for yourself.
“Thank you for your note. As the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, noted in a message to the staff, the decision to capitalize “Black” came after he spoke to a range of writers, editors, and staff members about the issue. The urge to capitalize “Black” to refer to people of the African diaspora is clearly a matter of respect, and it has emerged as a preferred form. The adjective has been capitalized for years in many academic venues and mainstream publications, and earlier this year it became standard at the Boston Globe, the Associated Press, the New York Times,
and the Wall Street Journal. The terms “brown” and “white” are problematic. As an ethnic or racial description, “brown” is far more elusive as an adjective, since it doesn’t describe a shared heritage; it can take in peoples of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Indigenous, or Latin-American origin. Capitalizing “White” is even more vexing, as the people who seem to be calling most ardently for its capitalization are so often white-supremacist groups. The magazine recognizes the inconsistency in having “Black,” “brown,” and “white”; but, all things considered, for now it’s what we have decided to do. “
Nominated by: Mr Polly
