If someone says “Taboo X”, they might be saying “I think you’re confused about X”, or “I think we have different definitions of X”, or “I think you’re using X to sneak in connotations”—all of which can be effectively addressed by, yes, tabooing X. That is going to take time, but so is continuing the conversation in any form; and debates over mismatched definitions in particular can be way more frustrating and time-consuming than any explanation of terms.
If you don’t think any of the above apply, or if you think there’s a more compact way to address the problem, then it’s reasonable to ask why X needs to be tabooed—but most of the time you’re better off just tabooing the damn word. Worrying about possible ulterior motives, meanwhile, strikes me as uncharitable except in the face of overwhelming evidence. There are lots of derailing and obfuscating tactics out there, many of them better than this one.
If someone says “Taboo X”, they might be saying “I think you’re confused about X”, or “I think we have different definitions of X”, or “I think you’re using X to sneak in connotations”—all of which can be effectively addressed by, yes, tabooing X. That is going to take time, but so is continuing the conversation in any form; and debates over mismatched definitions in particular can be way more frustrating and time-consuming than any explanation of terms.
If you don’t think any of the above apply, or if you think there’s a more compact way to address the problem, then it’s reasonable to ask why X needs to be tabooed—but most of the time you’re better off just tabooing the damn word. Worrying about possible ulterior motives, meanwhile, strikes me as uncharitable except in the face of overwhelming evidence. There are lots of derailing and obfuscating tactics out there, many of them better than this one.