These days, everything and everyone seems to be problematic. But what does the word “problematic” even mean?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of problematic is: “posing a problem, difficult to solve or decide; not definite or settled, UNCERTAIN; open to question or debate, QUESTIONABLE.”
That makes sense…except today, most people use the word problematic to describe things that are NOT difficult to solve or decide (they’ve already decided and solved it) and NOT open to question or debate (they will shout down, de-platform, and cancel anyone who tries to question or debate the problematicness of someone or something. If you suggest that something problematic is not problematic, you become problematic.
Problematic has become a buzzword to tarnish anyone or anything those who use the word don’t like. Anything remotely related to race, sex, gender, or capitalism is immediately labeled “problematic” and assumed to be racist, sexist, bigoted, fascist, and evil. But is it?
Look at this graph showing the use of the word “problematic” in books over time.
[Note that the graph stops at the year 2000 and only includes books. No doubt the use of "problematic" has sky-rocketed even further in the two decades since, and if it included internet sources, it would be off the charts.]
During actual slavery, before women’s suffrage, through Jim Crow, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement nothing was problematic. Then, after those events, during the years of the greatest amount of freedom and flourishing for people of all races and genders in human history, suddenly everything is problematic.
This is not to say things are now perfect—they can still improve—but people who call everything today “problematic” don’t seem to recognize how much of history’s problems have been solved. Is there any year on that graph (before anything was problematic apparently) that anyone today would actually want to go back to live in? No (except for actual racists, sexists, and nazis).
In reality, the present day has the least amount of truly problematic things in all of human history. That will likely continue to be the case on into the future, continuing the trend toward liberty over time. Life for the average American has gotten so good, in fact, that people now resort to labeling trivial things as problematic, due to their natural pessimism.
The term problematic is usually used by those on the political left to refer to people also on the left who did something the mob does not approve of. If someone on the right does something the leftist mob does not approve of, they’re not “problematic,” they're outright racists/sexists/bigots/nazis/fascists. The problematic person on the left must repent completely for whatever problematic thing they did and bow in subservience to the mob. Doing so will avoid them from being labeled a racist/sexist/nazi, though they will always remain “problematic.” For those on the right, there is absolutely nothing they can do to not be seen as a racist/sexist/bigot/nazi/fascist forever.
Problematic is also used to refer to things—such as movies, TV shows, songs, books, clothes, hairstyles, and food. Movies, TV shows, and songs are retroactively labeled problematic by people who used to enjoy such things before they became woke. Clothes, hair, and food is problematic if it’s worn or eaten by someone with the wrong skin tone. Books are problematic if they were written by dead white males.
One good thing about the current use of “problematic” is that it’s an instant signal to tune out and ignore anyone who uses the word unironically. It shows that they are not thinking—they are just parroting talking points gathered through groupthink. Why else would they constantly be using a meaningless word (incorrectly at that) that nobody was using thirty years ago? Because they heard someone else say it and they want to fit in with the current crowd.
The accurate definition of problematic is: “not a real problem, but a trivial matter that is magnified to virtue signal for social status because life is generally good and devoid of serious problems.”