Upon reflection in the car, I literally have no idea what information they're trying to convey via its use. It seems obviously defined on its face, but problematically lacking when one tries to characterize it in detail.
Are you saying it's bad? Wrong? Unjust? I have no idea!
At one point it was useful for some specific cases (like all such words) but the nature of it being vague meant you could throw it around aimlessly ... and it lost meaning quickly.
It happens with a lot of new phrases and words that seem to carry with them some depth and such and they are quickly abused to the point of losing all meaning and context.
With this context, saying something is problematic is saying there a problem there in the sense that it could be improved to something more moral, just, kind, etc. Of course, just like most of these similar words its broad and abstract, and if you are ever confused why someone considers something problematic you can ask or independently learn or study the issues.
As far as actual usage as a word, I've seen a few common useful ones. - As an initial statement prior to explaining the actual details and reasoning. Hopefully this one is not confusing people, but often people dont read past a headline so... - A categorization of something specifically to be avoided in discussion for simplicity. You discuss or explain a simplified idea, and leave the problematic bits out til later, as a method of organizing, like when learning math or whatever. - Casual shorthand between people with a similar set of understanding and arguments to point something out. This unfortunately leaks out to people who dont share in that common terminology and get confused. Its unfortunate that instead of, say, getting curious to understand the missing pieces of arguments, some people seem to just assume it's some kind of fluff and dismiss it out of hand.
Hopefully something here can provide clarity of terminology for some, and if they still want to problematize problematic can clarify in what way and why.
It might be clear from the context what the wrongness might be, or it might be a gateway for more elaboration/discussion.
It seems like a perfectly fine construction to me, and a good example of the efficiency mentioned in the grandparent comment.
One of my favorite "problems" is based on the "fact" that everything we see in media becomes a transcendental reality that nobody can evade, thus we have to constantly fight over who gets represented and why and how. Of course the premise has massive holes in it, and the representation being fought over is often unimaginative clunky stuff churned out by a committee. But that's not problematic.
So whenever I see the word "problematic" I think of some bureaucratic middle manager looking over a memo from above dictating that he or she is required to enforce a policy directive.
Source: Am queer and read this kind of stuff all the time.
"The author's approach towards female characters is problematic, but what I really want to focus on is..."
Calling something 'problematic' doesn't in any way prevent you from providing a justification for that view. If people aren't providing justifications when they should, then that's a problem independent of the particular choice of words.
Nor does any libelous or slandering statement or outright lying, but that doesn't remove your responsibility of supporting and substantiating your claims.
The "problematic" label is just a trick to poison the well.
It's like "alleged" only there's always an "alleged <something>", while "problematic" is only ever used alone.
IMHO it's overused, because of its distinct lack of clarity. It's especially incorrect when the reporter is injecting it themselves, as opposed to reporting what some other person said.
Losing the big picture worldview it came from has buried the word's meaning.
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : posing a problem
It seems pretty simple to me.