Duolingo is left-wing and authoritarian

The popular language-learning website, Duolingo, is great for learning languages.

I use it, and I think it's great. Well, I used to. Now it's just "average". Why?

Because they are submitting to the ridiculous gender ideology of the left... and preventing people from discussing it.

Her wife???

Why does it have no comments? Because of the "locked" status (the padlock next to the number of comments).

Duolingo are forcing their users to have gender ideology normalised, and then preventing any discussion about it.

Duolingo has discussion so that people can understand why a particular sentence or phrase has a particular translation... furthering their language knowledge.

But when it comes to forcing their ideology on you... no, you can't discuss those sentences.

The very fact that they have to lock a discussion is alarming. Why do they even need those sentences? Just have something that everyone will be happy with.

If people are not happy with a man marrying a woman, then the future of the human race is in jeopardy! There is no controversy with men and women marrying each other. So why create it?

The negative score shows how unappreciated the sentence is. Surely that means it's time to take it off?


Note:
This comment gets a discussion... because it isn't promoting the new gender ideology.
But this comment doesn't get a discussion.
This comment says it all: one comment about how comments will be deleted... and then the discussion is locked.
Double standards?!?!

I guess "progressivism" isn't open for discussion.
Progressivism = Authoritarian ??


I had found this discussion which was still allowed. Thankfully, I saved the discussion because... you guessed it! The discussion is now locked, and the comments that were not deemed 'progressive' enough have been deleted.

Here is the discussion:

eighsse

Odd situation: I'm not complaining about any of these comments one way or the other. I don't really care about gay or not gay. But why were there already green upvote markers on all of the pro-gay-inclusivity comments and already red downvote markers on all of the anti-gay-inclusivity comments when I came here, as if I had voted on them before? I've had this app for a long time, but I sure don't remember doing that. ?

OldMansChild

I only see seven comments in total. You've got more there? Anyway I think duo often deliberately constructs some odd sentences to impress the learners, so there is no need to debate around them.

Thomasco3Plus

To be honest, this sentence is more about political agenda, and the German team shouldn't be inserting their own political views into language learning.

JWestDEPlus

It's not a political view. It's a statement about daily life. In the real world. But if you're so insistent on removing politics from Duolingo, then should they also remove "She is the Mayor?" in case that offends you too?

Junge645479

It's language learning. Are you advocating that because someone might disagree with homosexuality, one should not learn how to refer to it in that new language? On the contrary, wouldn't it equip the learner with the vocabulary necesarry to express their disagreement? I exist and I love my husband, you don't have to agree with it.

BenNew3

What if it was "she" instead of "he"? Doesn't that also come with an agenda (of reinforcing heteronormativity)?

BaggyT

Personally, I think it is all about the politics. Especially with what's going on in the US. The truth is, if Duolingo stuck with sentences that supported the status quo, no one would care (except the very extremist fringe... who likely aren't on Duolingo anyway) and the conversation would stick to discussing the language. But these sorts of sentences are a deliberate attempt to normalise 'progressive' lifestyles.

I have no issue with homosexual people because they are people. But I have my own views on the homosexual lifestyle choice and I don't see why that ideology should be forced on people who came here to learn a language.

It's not about "well, if they don't have 'his husband' then they shouldn't have 'his wife' either"... because it's not about constructing every possible sentence. It's about giving people the tools to understand and use the language. If a person understands how "his wife" and "her husband" work grammatically, then they should have the tools to satisfy whatever gender ideology they want.

Junge645479

I'm gay. I'm not just a theoretical topic of your discussion. This question is not being forced on me, it's acknowledging me. I live my entire life seeing others acknowledged without problem, but whenever I am, it's a problem to many people. Imagine what living like that might be like. Sorry that I might want something specifically useful for my everyday life reflected in the thousands of phrases I'm looking at.

Regardless, the point of showing this sentence is to show that there isn't a specific word for gay husband, or some special colloquialism if you want to express a same-gendered marriage. You can't know that before seeing what the sentence is as commonly used, because literal translations aren't always the way to go if you want to sound native. Languages are so full of special caveats that you need to be exposed to everything, or you're setting yourself back.

You seem like you're offended from the outset and are rationalizing, and trying to come up with justifications for your preformed opinion, and in the end it just points out your logical blind-spots.

BaggyT

So, when you sign up to things online, are you actively looking for those things to acknowledge your lifestyle?

For me, I signed up to Duolingo to learn a language, not to be subjected to an ideology.

And sure, this sort of language might be useful for some people, but does it really need to be pushed so early in the course? I'm only a short way in. I don't have much of an issue with alternative lifestyle being talked about later on as a step towards fluency, but at this stage, there's no need for it at all.

In the current age of the speedy growth of technology (and population), everyone is getting lost in the wave, businesses included. It's increasingly harder to stand out. Companies seem to be trying it by "going woke" because they think that being at the forefront of this new ideological push is the best thing for their business. There are many facets of my life that are rarely acknowledged by websites and businesses. I get over it.

I just want to be able to learn a language without the rest of the ideological trash. Duolingo said that that's what it was there for. It seems they are not.

Junge645479

No, I don't expect that when I sign up. Why would I? I'm sceptical of when companies try to appeal to me purely for their own gain. The first time I saw a gay Duolingo question (which was months after I first started, by the way, so it's not early for everyone) I showed it to my husband, whose reaction was, "geez, Duolingo going for the PC points." But the alternative is that companies try to pretend I don't exist. I'm fine with Sprite never trying to appeal to me, but Duolingo is a language learning app, and it's supposed to give me ways to communicate. I'm gay, and the ways I communicate involve referring to my life. You're upset that you're not gay but there's a gay question, are you equally upset that (I'm going to assume) you're not a business owner, but there are questions from the perspective of a business owner? As someone with a dog, it would be strange for me to say I have no need for questions about someone with a cat, because the point is not that it all relates to me or my values, but that it filters the entire world, and all it might contain, through a new language--because being able to label things and express the variety of the world is literally the entire point of a language. I find it cynical, also, that you frame this all as "trash ideology." That's a way you get to see it because everything is already geared to suit you and acknowledge you. My life is my life, and it always feels so strange to see myself being categorized just so people can either condemn me or use me for brownie points. In the end, despite whatever Duolingo's motivation is, your proferred alternative (as I see it) is that everyone pretends I don't exist, which to me seems just as ideological, and lacking in those human capacities that should rather be used as antidotes to cynical, dogmatic thought. When did Duolingo promise you it would never bring up that gay peple exist and use language, including German? You know, like I do? I don't recall, and if you don't like it, you're free to use another service. And just to pile on, I don't see how you can separate a gay person from their "lifestyle choice," so I don't know what it is you want if it's not the complete omission of gay people from all media. I also take issue with what I see the phrase "lifestyle choice" as commonly conveying, because it attempts to paint every gay person as a monolithic entity. I have very little in common with a lot of gay people. When some don't marry, nor even have relationships, when some are bankers, some are painters, some are extroverted, some are introverted, some don't like pride parades, tell me, what is the lifestyle? If your overall issue is just that it's a company referring to gay people, why is that worse than them referring to straight people? Can you give me a logical argument that doesn't stem from some kind of dogmatism, which, in a supposedly free society, should have no bearing on me (or on Duolingo) just because you really want it to?

And that's when Duolingo put their authoritarian foot down. As is almost always the case, it seems this person, with their alternative sexual lifestyle, has a chip on their shoulder.

It is unreasonable to demand that all people are supportive of all aspects of your life (especially decisions concerning sexuality), otherwise you'll play the 'victim' card. Sorry. The truth is that all people get an element of respect just for being people. Your actions determine whether you are a nice person or not.

Personally, I know homosexual people who are very nice and good friends. I also know heterosexual people who are devious, liars, and generally not nice people. Sexuality is not the determining factor in any case.