The list can go on and on and we will one day witness the Standford IT Community doing "The Chief Apologies"
Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
731–740 of 1001 posts
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#732I reject the notion that anyone hearing or reading a word from this list could possibly experience anything properly categorized as "harm". This is what's known in the sports world as "flopping" - feigning an injury to elicit a penalty on the other team. Except academia has taken it even further. You don't even need to pretend that you're the one injured. You can make up an imaginary person and pretend they are injur…
Some of them are deliberate slurs but most of them are just colourful language. This list is 95% absolutely ridiculous and I’m what you’d probably consider a proponent of social justice. It’s deeply funny, but also tragic because while there should be an attempt to make language inclusive, lists like this make the movement look like a joke.
The English language is deep in a crisis of lacking effective profanity. We neutered "fuck" by using it too much, Aussies use "cunt" as an adverb at the dinner table, all we're left with is ethnic slurs.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#733I reject the notion that anyone hearing or reading a word from this list could possibly experience anything properly categorized as "harm". This is what's known in the sports world as "flopping" - feigning an injury to elicit a penalty on the other team. Except academia has taken it even further. You don't even need to pretend that you're the one injured. You can make up an imaginary person and pretend they are injur…
> I reject the notion that anyone hearing or reading a word from this list could possibly experience anything properly categorized as "harm".
If you don't feel uncomfortable for any of these words or phrases, then consider yourself fortunate; it does not apply to you. But don't dismiss it because you're not offended for any of the words, just be fortunate it's not a problem you have.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#734So I am curious how this comment will go, but I suspect this might be an unpopular take.
A while ago there was a concentrated effort by the right in the US to “regain” the mind space of universities, towards ideas of the alt-right and traditional right like protecting foetuses etc.
Since then I have been noticing an uptick of articles attempting to polarise and raise outrage against the “radical left” with one major avenue of attack being these “language initiatives”.
I’ve also noticed an uptick of false flag operations with certain academics of questionable intellect and pedigree.. being pushed past the edge into rather harmful attempts to purge otherwise harmless language, or to express other “extreme views” while trying to identify them selves as left.
To someone who has mostly viewed them self as a rational and somewhat left leaning intellectual this is exhausting. Frankly these days I do my best to hide from both the new right, and the polarised and misguided people that think they are left wing.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#735Probably what you should take away from this is not “wokism gone crazy” (err, sorry “wild”). The more important lesson here is that the bloat in academic institutions has gotten so outrageous that people start bullshit time-consuming initiatives to justify their positions and the positions of their reports. Absolutely no one will take this seriously including the person who wrote it but they will be able to put it on…
I guarantee you that things like this are being driven by the attitudes / beliefs of the wider student population. Even if this particular initiative does not explicitly involve any specific student groups. That is, the attitudes of the staff are downstream of the students. This is also reinforced by the fact that (entry-level) staff at universities are often recent humanities graduates from that university.
I disagree. In my experience, these attitudes start with a _very specific_ group of students, by no means representative of the larger student body. I've actually experienced far more dissent to rules like this on campus then agreement, even accounting for silence. You stated yourself that these staff are usually recent humanities graduates. Even in the workplace, where I've experienced the big co commandment list handed down from on high, that list was by far a minority decision in terms of actual workforce engagement. At least where I am, students are not asking for things like this, employees are not asking for things like this, small task forces of motivated people are creating these rules and enforcing them globally through the fear of their supervisors.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#736This got dark quick: "basket case" Originally referred to one who has lost all four limbs and therefore needed to be carried around in a basket. I've only heard of basket case from the context of barely ridable motorcycle in a constant state of repair with its random parts in a basket. I wish it was my job to make this sort of document. I'd make up all sorts of crazy backstories for slang no one has ever heard of.
I always thought it came from insane asylums using basket weaving as an activity/therapy.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#737Looked at the list and.. Instead of "committed suicide" Use "died by suicide" Reason: "Ableist language that trivializes the experiences of people living with mental health conditions." ... How does "committed" trivialize the experience? If anything saying "by suicide" obfuscates and weakens the message. This _reeks_ of a bureaucracy doing busywork and then burdening the rest of the institution with further valueless…
This is the most insidious on the list in my opinion because it totally removes agency.
Makes it seem like free will has been thoroughly debunked and language should be adjusted appropriately.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#738Who do i contact to add a few thousand terms to the list? It's kind of urgent please, starting with the word byzantine BTW isn't "Elimination" kind of vionent as a term? I wish they used a less upsetting name. In any case, by upvoting this you are providing visibility to nonsense.
They see elimination in a positive light, because they won't apply it to themselves.
yeah, you see "positive light" is othering other colors, hues and numbers.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#739No worries, Stanford, we'll come up with new slurs to hurt your feelings soon enough.
Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative
#740It's absurd how this people don't know absolutely anything about linguistics. "Men" in menpower doesn't mean "the power of men". It means the power of people. Words can have different meanings when written in different contexts, even more when combined. Go on, downvote, be like the many preachers, iconoclasts and witch burners of the past, see you in ten or maybe a little more years when we can focus again on stuff that matters for mankind.