It was in his inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, in 1977, that Roland Barthes launched this sentence typical of a Thought 68 still “unavoidable” in the intellectual microcosm: “
Language is neither reactionary nor progressive;
it is quite simply fascist;
because fascism is not to prevent saying, it is to force to say
. "
The words may well be of unfathomable stupidity, the disciples, amazed by this "
incredible innovation
", applaud.
As one of them wrote without laughing: “
In a few words, Barthes sweeps away all the presuppositions of Western philosophy according to which, since the Greeks, the exercise of speaking and writing was linked to that of of reason and freedom.
" Well then!
Despite its silliness, Barthes' aphorism will unfortunately be followed by a long posterity of which the spelling reform projects and inclusive writing are the latest avatars.
Read also:
Those excluded from inclusive writing
Fearing to be overwhelmed on his left, Bourdieu had to immediately resume the theme, ensuring urbi
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