TikTok thinks that ‘Maine Coon’ may be associated with hateful behaviour

You can’t search for “Maine Coon” on TikTok because their internal search engine rejects the term as they think that it ‘may be associated with hateful behaviour’. It’s time to change the name of the Maine Coon ?. It is out of step with the woke era. It is a valid point, actually. The ‘Coon’ part of this cat breed’s name is peculiar at best and unacceptable at worst. It does not do justice to this cat breed. No one knows how it came to be part of the name. Who the hell invented the name? You would not create this name today. Originally, they were called ‘Maine cats’. Why not drop the ‘Coon’ bit and go back to the original? The woke movement might insist on it ?.

The second part of the name “Coon” is a slang word and an extremely disparaging and offensive word used to refer to a person of colour. In the modern era, that word cannot be used in any context unless, I guess, if you are a person of colour who wishes to use it for a particular reason.

TikTok thinks 'Maine Coon' may be associated with hateful behavior
TikTok thinks ‘Maine Coon’ may be associated with hateful behavior. Screenshot from TikTok search
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

It’s an interesting problem which has probably surfaced over the past couple of years because of the ‘woke movement’. My understanding of the woke movement is that you have to be very careful about the language you use to ensure that it is not disrespectful of any individual within the wide spectrum of people some of whom are not mainstream or who are not classified as mainstream by mainstream people. It’s a very delicate point which you can barely write about.

Personally, I have the greatest respect for all people. My belief is that everyone is normal. It is normal to be abnormal if you know what I mean. It is normal to be different. There is a very wide spectrum of gender types. They are all perfectly acceptable and normal. That’s my personal view. We should respect everyone no matter what their gender orientation. And of course, the same goes for their skin colour.

Tribalism - us and them
Tribalism – us and them. Image: John Hain on Pixabay

My belief, also, is that racism is a form of tribalism. I believe that every single person on the planet is at least potentially racist if not actually racist. The ones who aren’t racist are the ones who suppress their racist instincts to the point where they virtually disappear. But racism is within all of us. This is because we are all tribal in nature. We are tribal in nature because we have inherited that state of mind from our ancestors when the world was governed by tribalism. It still exists in certain parts of the world.

But back to the TikTok search engine; I think they need to adjust it to take into account the name of this very famous cat breed which is today so popular. If you can’t find a Maine Coon on TikTok it is a sorry state of affairs. Or dump the word ‘Coon’.

Here are some more pages on ‘words’:

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Useful tag. Click to see the articles: Cat behavior

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