This is how you know Libs have had too much say in academia as now school employees are being given a list of word alternatives to use to ensure they are not being inadvertently offensive. But the list is not what you might expect. There are not slurs or anything that would normally be seen as offensive, instead, it’s words like “picnic” and “man.”
The University of Michigan sent out the new language restrictions to their IT Dept.
“Crack the whip.” “Master/slave.” Even the term “picnic” has been deemed offensive, according to a lengthy list of words and phrases put out recently by the University of Michigan’s Information and Technology Services’ “Words Matter Task Force.”
“To effectively communicate with customers, it is important for ITS to evaluate the terms and language conventions that may hinder effective communication, harm morale, and deliberately or inadvertently exclude people from feeling accepted to foment a healthy and inclusive culture,” states the memorandum obtained by The College Fix.
The memo, last updated December 8, contains nearly 36 recommendations for alternative words and phrases, the naming of artifacts, cultural development within the organization, the creation of an advisory board, and a list of “next steps.”
A centerpiece of the memo is the first of four appendices, a table of terms deemed offensive and alternatives to replace them.
The list includes the word “picnic” under the offensive column. It suggests using “gathering” instead.”
“An internet search on the issue of the word “picnic” being racist includes a Reuters article from July 2020 headlined: “Fact check: The word picnic does not originate from racist lynchings.”
As for the rest of the list, it contains several words containing a variation on the word “man,” such as “spokesman” or “chairman.” The guide recommends using terms like “spokesperson or “chairperson” instead.
IT terms such as “blacklist/whitelist” and “privileged account” also made the list.
Instead of using “crazy,” “dummy,” or “sanity check,” the list encourages “unthinkable,” “placeholder,” and “coherence check,” respectively, lest the speaker offend those with mental illnesses.
Terms that might offend those with disabilities such as “crippled” and “handicapped” are replaced with “weakened” and “restricted.”
This is nonsense and is by no means necessary. This reminds me of the time Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau corrected someone for saying mankind. He told them it’s “peoplekind,” not mankind as if there is some difference there. This over the top pandering is too much. They are creating issues with words that have no negative connotations like picnic and man. The worst part is that the University claims they plan to expand on the list. At the rate they are going it’s going to be a nuisance to have a conversation without saying one of their restricted words or phrases.
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