Okay but isn’t this change just another form of state approved culture? The state wants to focus on the masculine over the inclusive?
With traditions, I seem to recall it was tradition for all stores to close on the holiday so why is it acceptable for that tradition to have ended when it’s not acceptable the NOTAM acronym to be modified?
This change feels a lot like meddling while rome burns.
It’s unmedelling? You mean it’s meddling to roll back a previous change? It’s still big government telling you how to think.
"That’s one small step for man… BTW, what are those round cast iron things in the road?
It has long been an acceptable convention in English to use male terminology when referring to people of both genders. One simply has to read anything printed more than about 20 years ago to learn that. The problem is our current generation isn’t well-read and is too sensitive to having hurt feelings to understand.
So the word “airmen” is in fact inclusive. As is “human” and “mankind.”
“Okay but isn’t this change just another form of state approved culture?”
When the state is actively driving language changes and cultural changes; it’s out of line. That’s when the state is no longer a servant of the people.
When the state is actively driving language changes and cultural changes; it’s out of line. That’s when the state is no longer a servant of the people.
Isn’t that exactly what big government is doing right here?
I mean if the problem is the government directing changes to language then shouldn’t trump have said it’s totally up to individuals what its called rather than big government actively driving a language change here?
Does that mean that trump is no longer a servant of the people because he has pushed for multiple language changes?
Though even Neil said he had intended to say “That’s one small step for a man…”. And yes, the rest of that quote was “one giant leap for mankind”, but the culture was more male-dominated back then with less consideration paid to terminology.
Like it or not, culture as a whole is changing to be more inclusive, regardless of how much or little “the state” or others want that to happen.
Indeed. That was 55 years ago. Do people really want to go back to living in 1969? If so, give up your phones, your GPS navigation, the internet and most modern conveniences.
Avweb got their clicks: check
Spleens on both sides vented: check
NOTAM system made useful: negative
Better flying weather so I stop reading this stuff: still negative
So much silliness -
We have mankind and notices to airmen
For those offended by cockpit it, like port and starboard came from the sea - The term “cockpit” originated in the nautical world . It originally referred to a sunken pit or well in the deck of a sailing ship, usually near the stern, where the ship’s steering wheel and controls were located.
Thus the cockpit is where those who operate the vessel work
and the cabin is where the non cockpit crew are carried as oxygen depleting passengers
We have enough problems to not need to fabricate more.
Undoing “state defined” language and culture is a good thing; quite the reverse of defining them. So no, freedom is not slavery, lol.
Sadly, the lack of flying weather has been a persistent issue in my location for much of this winter.
So “long accepted” that it goes back well-before the origin of the English language. It reflects the societal insignificance of females historically, to the extent that when it became necessary to have a term for the other gender, it was always by something concatenated to the term for “man”. This reflected the fact that social power in those days was predominately a function of muscle mass. We are centuries removed from muscle being the determinant of power in society, but our language has not kept up.
This not about “hurt feelings”, any more than giving a freed slave “40 acres and a mule” made him an equal member of 19th century society. It has long been established that a society’s language both reflects and affects it. As long as its language describes more than half of its members using adjectival forms of “man”, there is the implication that they are a subgroup, not an equal party.
It’s high time that we eschew gender implications where none exists. We have perfectly good gender-free nouns for nearly every job in aviation. Our federal documents should reflect that.
As a European looking across the pond, this debate is very insightful of the USA mindset just now.
I don’t have any skin in this game and nothing to add on the rights and wrongs of the changes.
But… it is interesting to note that this thread had generated as much or more interest than any other subject recently. If I had started a thread on what could be done to improve the NOTAM system it might have got half a dozen replies…
What a strange state of affairs that culture wars have outstripped real life-changing events in the consciousness of the nation.
It won’t end well.
P
Undoing “state defined” language and culture is a good thing; quite the reverse of defining them. So no, freedom is not slavery, lol.
How is mandating NOTICE TO AIRMEN not state defined? It is the state (Big Government) defining the terminology.
If Notice to Air Missions is state defined then notice to airmen must be as well? You can’t have it one way but not the other otherwise you’re just being hypocritical.
Go flying and enjoy being a pilot! Don’t waste time with those “wars”. They (the “gods” of war) don’t really understand the joy of flying. They just love the million they receive in every year and the photos when they wave in SAFR Washington DC.
"How is mandating NOTICE TO AIRMEN not state defined? "
Because the common parlance in use was “airmen”; well before the FAA formed in 1957. The FAA used the common term to notify people who flew. The term “air missions” is just asinine because no one tells their family “see you in a few hours, I’m going on an air mission”.
Arthur, I see what you’re getting at, but I think ovester although witty, is a bad example. Semester comes from Latin and just refers to a six-month period, it was never about gender. Words like mankind and airmen do have gendered roots, but they’ve long been understood as inclusive. Language does change over time, but those changes should make sense and add clarity, not just replace words for the sake of it.
No AJ, but very few young girls, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, reply, “I want to be an airMAN.” There is a cognitive dissonance caused by an inappropriate noun. No wonder we are woefully behind in recruiting many capable women into the aviation profession. Also, I have no doubt that you have never felt it, but if you have daughters, I’ll bet they have.
The term “air missions” is just asinine because no one tells their family “see you in a few hours, I’m going on an air mission”.
Oh right!!! so the VP and other dignitaties are in the wrong?
Special Air Mission provides air transportation for the president of the United States (POTUS), vice president of the United States (VPOTUS), first lady of the United States (FLOTUS), presidential Cabinet, U.S. congressional delegations (CODELs), and other high-ranking American and foreign dignitaries.
this service was renamed in 1991. Did you protest the renaming as government interference?
well before the FAA formed in 1957
Do you want to go back to 1957 then?