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Two years ago, the University of New Hampshire published a “Bias-Free Language Guide” that only came into public attention after the conservative journalists from Campus Reform recently published it on their site.
The guide contains a list of words considered offensive by the politically correct police within the campus and proposes some less offensive alternatives.
Unfortunately, the word “American” is on the black list as well because it doesn’t include Latin America. As an alternative, guide authors propose “U.S. citizen” or “resident of the U.S.”
There are also other mind-numbing synonyms to a series of words considered too offensive to be used by students in an academic discussion.
For instance, the elderly should be called “people of advanced age,” the overweight or “weight challenged” (another PC police’s wisely chosen word) should be referred to as “people of size,” “the rich” should be replaced with “persons of material wealth,” while the poor should be addressed as “persons who lack the advantages others have.” Surprisingly, even “healthy” or “normal” is offensive enough to the UNH PC police’s ears. The terms should be replaced with “un-disabled,” the guide recommends.
Plus in order not to offend any feminists around, students should say “y’all” instead of “guys” when addressing a group.
When asked about the guide, President Mark Huddleston said that that wasn’t the university’s official position. The university said that the troublesome list was issued by “small group of community members,” but insiders say that the guide was in fact the cooperative work of four commissions.
The UNH currently has a commission for disabled people, one that promotes LGBT community’s rights, one for black people, or “people of color” (another PC police term subtly introduced in the mainstreem media and from there into our thoughts), and one for women.
Huddleston said Wednesday that the guide was published because any individual had the right to an opinion. He admitted that the guide although it was meant to be ‘sensitive’ ended up being offensive to many people including himself.
Although the university declines that the guide represents its official position on academic speech, the Bias-Free Language Guide still features on its official website. The college explained that it serves its purpose of building an “inclusive, diverse and equitable community” and it encourages critical thinking. Yet critics noted that such guide does the exact opposite since it clogs the engine of any academic research – the free exchange of ideas.
State Sen. Jeb Bradley, was appalled by the guide. He promised that he would make sure other lawmakers would remember it when pondering on how much of the taxpayer money to direct to the university.
Image Source: UNH.edu
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