Season 4 Podcast 4 Political Correctness 2023 Pt I

Season 4 Podcast 4 Political Correctness 2023 Pt I Stanford University produced the “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative.” The following is their purpose statement, “The goal of the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative 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 in Stanford websites and codes.”  The media buzz began when Stanford condemned the word American because it is offensive to the 42 other countries who live on the American continent. According to Stanford the term “American” denotes superiority. In other words, Stanford is condemning as evil pride in America, patriotism, the American Flag, and the American way of life and holding up as equal any contrary political views that inhabit the American continent.One could say that Stanford is crippling the language, but you can’t use the word crippling or handicap because they unnecessarily equate the weakening of something with people living with disabilities.You could say that Stanford has strong convictions about using harmful language, but according to their manifesto you can’t use the word conviction either because it has the word convict in it and the term convict defines people by just one of their characteristics. Of course, using the same sound reasoning you can’t call anyone a murderer, a rapist, a criminal, a sadist, a psychopath, a serial killer, a terrorist, a gunman, a gangster, a racketeer, a cutthroat or a mugger because they define criminals with just by one characteristic. You must be inclusive. A psychopath for example, may also be a serial killer, a rapist, a gunman, a terrorist, a gangster and a racketeer, and thus he may be offended by just one title. So, you refer to him—whoops, can’ t use the pronoun him because it suggests a male-dominated language. According to Stanford you shouldn’t group criminals using masculine language into gender binary groups, which don’t include everyone.  You may use the pronoun them regardless of whether or not it agrees in number because them are inclusive or should I say ‘them’ is inclusive? Grammar no longer matters. Only political correctness matters.The point is you must guard your language and become dumb, but you can’t use the word dumb either because it implies a person is incapable of expressing themselves (notice it is themselves and not himself or herself because those preferred pronouns are exclusive—whoops! Again—you cannot use the phrase “preferred pronouns” because the word preferred suggests that non-binary gender identity is a choice and a preference. It doesn’t end with pronouns.  Most nouns are also banned. For example, you cannot use the term Hispanic because its roots lie in Spain’s colonization of South American countries. All words denoting colonialism are banned. Never mind that it is a denial of history. It is a small sacrifice as long as you choose the politically correct words. You cannot even say “Philippine Islands” because it denotes colonialism, unless of course you are of Filipino heritage. One is tempted to call the personages at Stanford who are on the committee to eliminate harmful language insane except they banned the word insane because it is Ableist language that trivializes the experiences of people living with mental health conditions. So you would have to say to those on the committee to Eliminate Harmful Language that they are people living with mental health conditions. However, according to Stanford, you may avoid the circular jargon by replacing the word insane with the word “surprising” or “wild.” It is nice to know that Stanford has found a cure for insanity. A person is no longer criminally insane.  He, she, it, they, or them are criminally surprising or criminally wild.