Liberals are so thin-skinned that words constantly wound them. Deeply. So they’re constantly redefining words to ease their pain.
Enter Stanford University. The vaunted California institute of higher education has published an index of “harmful language” as part of an initiative to eliminate and replace words it deems offensive.
The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative is a “multi-phase, multi-year project to address harmful language in IT at Stanford,” according to the guide. The guide’s purpose is to eliminate “many forms of harmful language,” including “racist, violent, and biased (e.g., disability bias, ethnic bias, ethnic slurs, gender bias, implicit bias, sexual bias) language” on Stanford’s websites.
The guide has 10 “harmful language” sections: ableist, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriative, gender-based, imprecise language, institutionalized racism, person-first, violent and additional considerations. The guide was rolled out in May, but has been gaining notoriety in recent days.
One word the university deems inappropriate is “American.”
Americans shouldn’t say they’re “American.” Instead, they should say they are “U.S. citizens” because “American” often refers only to “people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the U.S. is the most important country in the Americas.”
“Immigrant” is also verboten. Instead, use “person who has immigrated.” Also, best to use four words to replace one word.
The university wants to do away with the word “abort,” as in to end something. Stanford says to use “cancel” or “end” to avoid the moral connotations of abortion. “Child prostitute” becomes “child who has been trafficked” so as not to imply the child has chosen the profession.
And “Karen” is out. Instead, use “demanding or entitled white woman.”
The “ableist” section also raises some eyebrows. The university asks people to use “accessible parking” instead of “handicap parking” and “anonymous review” instead of “blind review” (although, to be fair, blind people aren’t really going to see the term “blind review,” are they?).
“Blind review,” Stanford says, “intentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture.”
People also shouldn’t say “tone deaf” but rather “unenlightened.” And “addict” is such a horrible word. Say “person with a substance abuse disorder,” please.
“Gangbusters” is banned because the university says it “invokes the notion of police action against ‘gangs’ in a positive light, which may have racial undertones.” And “beat a dead horse” “normalizes violence against animals,” the index says.
Colleges are where most fragile liberals reside. In 2020, a college professor declared “low-hanging fruit” racist (even though the Oxford Dictionary defines the phrase as “a thing or person that can be won, obtained, or persuaded with little effort.”
“For African-Americans, if you say ‘low-hanging fruit,’ we think lynching,” said Mae Hicks-Jones, an adjunct faculty member of Elgin Community College in Illinois, The Daily Wire reported.
“Grandfathered” is also racist, she said, according to a report in The College Fix. To Hicks-Jones, the phrase “grandfathered in” is reminiscent of a grandfather clause, which privileged white people’s right to vote over that of black people during the Jim Crow South.
What words are next? No one knows. But somewhere — right now — a team of professors is compiling another list of offensive words. That much you can be sure of.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.