The AP Style Guide — the bible for journalists when writing for publication — uses the term “Latinx” to describe Latinos. It’s required in academic circles as well.
But as for Latinos, a sizable minority of them are offended by the term. They prefer “Hispanic,” “Latino,” or “Latina” when describing their ethnicity.
Also using the term “Latinx” is the Democratic Party. The problem there is that only 2% of Latinos recognize “Latinx” as a term to describe them and 40% of Hispanics are actually offended when the race-obsessed Democrats use it.
Another 30% said they would be less likely to support a politician or organization that uses the term.
Politico:
“The numbers suggest that using Latinx is a violation of the political Hippocratic Oath, which is to first do no electoral harm,” said [Fernand] Amandi, whose firm advised Barack Obama’s successful Hispanic outreach nationwide in his two presidential campaigns. “Why are we using a word that is preferred by only 2 percent, but offends as many as 40 percent of those voters we want to win?”
Amandi emphasized that he wasn’t blaming the erosion of Latino support for Democrats merely on the use of the word Latinx. Hispanic voters have started shifting right for myriad reasons, he said, chiefly because of more aggressive engagement from Republicans who have “weaponized culture war issues at the margins with Hispanic voters.”
So Democrats, who first “weaponized” the culture war in the 1960s, are complaining about Republicans weaponizing culture conflicts? Hispanics are shifting right because Democrats continue to treat them as a monolithic block of voters who agree with the Democrat’s socialist policies.
Related: What’s Driving Latinos to the GOP?
Since many Hispanics escaped socialist hell holes to get here, why would they want to recreate a society they fled?
But as some on the left began embracing the term Latinx in politics, it started to expose a fault line in the party between moderate traditionalists and the more activist progressive base. Those embracing Latinx have explained that the word — and the trend of making Spanish words gender-inclusive by ending them in an X — is not a product of the U.S. left or white elites, but instead, can be traced back to Latin America and Latinos. It’s also an alternative to Hispanic, a term also criticized for its ties to Spain, which colonized much of Latin America.
Yes, but do Latinos use the term “Latinx” when they aren’t left-wing activists? The answer to that question is a definitive “no.” And it’s because of how the Spanish language is structured.
Spanish is a gendered language, with nouns typically ending in “A” for the feminine and “O” for masculine words. Masculine nouns are typically prefaced with “el” or “un,” while feminine nouns are used with articles, like “la” or “una.” When referring to a group of mixed-gender people, the language defaults to the masculine — Latinos to refer to all genders. Those using Latinx argue that masculine words should not be the default when talking about a mixed-gender group.
Spanish-speaking nations are traditionalists in many respects. Conservative and Catholic, Latin America has many gender-specific societies and the language reflects that.
So when a Democratic Party activist starts throwing around a term that no one uses except left-wing crazies, Hispanics tend to be offended that the stupid politicians can’t even refer to them properly.
And they vote accordingly.
Source: PJ Media
