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Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

itcommunity.stanford.edu

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Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#401

Post by varajelle »

WirelessGigabit wrote: post #385

OCD is not the same as detail oriented. OCD is the disorder of having to have certain things in a certain way. Detail oriented is just that, you care about details. Like someone who paints your house can go fast on the large surfaces, but you get the detail-oriented person to do your window trims in a different color without it splattering over the white facade.

Yes that's right. The thing is that people have been using the term OCD as a pejorative term for someone who is "detail oriented" and that need to be avoided. (When not referring to the disorder specifically)

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#402

Post by NoToP »

ARandomerDude wrote: post #329

> master (v) > become adept in > Historically, masters enslaved people, didn't consider them human and didn't allow them to express free will, so this term should generally be avoided. I assume Stanford now hands out an Adept Degree at the end of grad school.

Ngl now I kind of wish I had an Adept degree

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#404

Post by thoiu23o43243 »

bmc7505 wrote: post #318

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought-crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it." —George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

More importantly, you'll be so obsessed with words that you'll miss burning hate even when it hits you in your face. All these language games are about power ultimately, and about securing the status quo.

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#405

Post by evol262 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #349
cipheredStones wrote: post #332

It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…

I can think of a few more! "register" - might indicate that someone has to register as a second-class citizen, enemy alien, etc. "bit" - might imply that someone is only a 'bit player', leading to feelings of inferiority. "tool" - an obviously offensive word meaning that someone is only fit to be used by others. "terminal" - we need to be sensitive about words that bring up the concept of death, to avoid triggering e…

How do you feel about "bad faith"?

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#406

Post by cipheredStones »

jrmg wrote: post #394
cipheredStones wrote: post #332

It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…

It’s very obviously not intended to imply that all the terms are equally offensive or inaccurate. Why _wouldn’t_ I want to avoid using any but your last category?

One would hope it isn't intended to imply that, but if not, it's doing an extremely poor job at it.

Here's two almost-adjacent entries:

> hip-hip hurray, hip hip hooray > This term was used by German citizens during the Holocaust as a rallying cry when they would hunt down Jewish citizens living in segregated neighborhoods.

> Jewed > This term is based on a stereotype that people of Jewish descent are cheap and/or hoard money.

The latter is, as I said, a well-known slur that any Jew would find offensive. The former is an extremely commonplace expression which is allegedly offensive due to a history that I've never in my life heard of before, and which seems on a quick search to be quite dubiously evidenced.

Without knowing the actual context of these, one might very well be persuaded by this list that "hip, hip, hooray" was more offensive than "Jewed" - after all, a rallying cry for a genocide sounds more harmful than a mere ethnic stereotype!

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#407

Post by NoToP »

photochemsyn wrote: post #349
cipheredStones wrote: post #332

It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…

I can think of a few more! "register" - might indicate that someone has to register as a second-class citizen, enemy alien, etc. "bit" - might imply that someone is only a 'bit player', leading to feelings of inferiority. "tool" - an obviously offensive word meaning that someone is only fit to be used by others. "terminal" - we need to be sensitive about words that bring up the concept of death, to avoid triggering e…

"black Friday" - what could possibly have been on sale originally when it got this name?

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#408

Post by thomasahle »

cipheredStones wrote: post #332

It's pretty remarkable that this conflates: - Well-known slurs like "Jewed" - Outdated, now-offensive terms like "hermaphrodite" - Touchy metaphorical language like "slave replica" - Gendered terms that if you're being assiduous you probably want to avoid, like "manpower" - Words that have long since lost any stigmatizing meaning by virtue of the original use being so ancient ("lame", "dumb", "stupid") - Words that,…

> Indian summer | late summer | This term infers that Indigenous people are chronically late. While it may be innocently used to describe a beautiful time of year, it could have an unintended negative impact on those who hear it.

This one was surprising to me. I always assumed Indian summer was about summer in India lasting longer.

Apparently it really is about an American phenomenon https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_summer . Though I don't see the negative reading on the Wikipedia page.

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#409

Post by 8f2ab37a-ed6c »

sn41 wrote: post #382
ARandomerDude wrote: post #329

> master (v) > become adept in > Historically, masters enslaved people, didn't consider them human and didn't allow them to express free will, so this term should generally be avoided. I assume Stanford now hands out an Adept Degree at the end of grad school.

I personally would prefer a Journeyman exit degree option :)

Journeyperson, thank you very much.

Actually, journeyperchild.

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#410

Post by gedy »

Ekaros wrote: post #131
DerSaidin wrote: post #65

> Instead of: African-American > Consider using: Black Was this previously the other way around?

I'm waiting for the time we go back to some variant of the Latin word for colour black. At this point, it might be possible.

Negrx.
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