‘American’ Listed Among ‘Harmful Language’ Published by Stanford

Stanford University published a list of “harmful language” and the word “American” is among them.

Twitter users took to the platform to share screenshots of the university’s “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative.”

According to the guide, people should replace “American” with “US Citizen” because the term “often refers only to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the U.S. is the most important country in the Americas.”

Other words included in the guide are: “Stand up meeting, insane, user, trigger warning, you guys, and walk-in.”

Fox News noted there are 10 “harmful language” sections included in the index, including: “Ableist, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriative, gender-based, imprecise language, institutionalized racism, person-first, violent and additional considerations.”

Users shared their reactions to the index, with one tweeting, “You can not use ‘user’ but ‘consider using’ is ok? This is wild.”

Former Republican Joe Walsh wrote, “Dear Democrats, Stanford U doesn’t want people using the words ‘American,’ ‘brave,’ and ‘user,’ among many others. So as not to offend.”

He added, “This is the kind of bullshit that gives ‘woke’ a bad name and turns off the vast majority of Americans. Best, A Former Republican Trying To Help.”

Another user wrote, “I bet the clowns that come up with these lists are real fun guys. Oops can’t say guys.”

Check out more reactions below:

https://twitter.com/ShawnMauldin4/status/1605238267129040898

Similarly, Cambridge Dictionary received criticism last week after it changed the definition of the word “woman,” as IJR reported.

The dictionary defined the term as “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”