If you want to speak inclusively, then exclude things you want to include in what you speak. So goes inclusivity.
So makes clear Michigan State University.
The East Lansing public land-grant research school boasts an annually-updaed language guide informing enrollees on which words should be sliced from their pie holes.
An introduction, from MSU.edu:
Michigan State University values communications practices that support belonging for all Spartans. In alignment with strategic efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion, the Inclusive Guide provides best practices for communications in gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, global identity and disability.
The guide aligns with the MSU Editorial Style Guide and includes recommendations informing images, web content, speeches, events and more.
The Guide separates incision into categorical quarters:
- Race and Ethnicity
- Global Identity
- Disability
- Gender and Sexuality
Among the rejected racial references:
- “African” or “Black slaves” removes agency and does not acknowledge the act of enslavement. Instead, use “enslaved Black people” or “enslaved African Americans.”
- “Blacks,” “colored” or “Negro” are derogatory terms and should not be used.
- Avoid referring to someone from an underrepresented group as “articulate,” as this can reinforce negative tropes.
- “Minoritized” or “marginalized” can remove agency and reaffirm deficit language, avoid using unless in a quotation.
Tiptoe around pox-positioned primates:
- Avoid reinforcing stereotypes around diseases and viruses that may impact members of a particular group and/or play into stereotypes, such as Monkeypox, which should only be used on first mention, e.g., “MPV – commonly referred to as Monkeypox.”
And if a nonwhite person is unprepared, don’t say so:
- Terms like “at-risk” or “underprepared” blame the person rather than the structures and barriers that have neglected communities.
Dozens of disability-themed words are to be whacked:
- Do not use “obsessive-compulsive disorder,” or “OCD,” “attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder”, or “ADHD,” “post-traumatic stress disorder,” or “PTSD,” or any other condition to describe undiagnosed behavior.
- The term “substance abuse” is considered outdated and perpetuates shame and trauma. Instead, use “substance use” or “substance use disorder.”
- Ableist language: “crazy,” “insane,” “bonkers,” “nuts,” “psycho,” “demented,” “senile,” “loony,” “lunatic,” “psychotic,” “addict,” “invalid,” “vegetable,” “paralyzed,” “lame,” “madhouse,” “tone-deaf,” “spazzing out,” “braindead” or “blindly.” When writing a DEI-related stance or inclusive messaging on sensitive topics, avoid metaphors that draw attention to specific disabilities such as, “the blind leading the blind.”
Out of international respect, don’t utter “America”:
- American-centric or first-world language: “foreigner,” “alien,” “illegal immigrant,” “illegals,” “America” when referring to the United States (refers to North America, Central America and South America), “backward” or “third world.”
And fight terror with tenderness:
- Avoid charged words and judgmental labels to describe religions and religious communities such as “extremist,” “militant,” “terrorist,” “radical,” “fundamentalist,” “cult”, “sect,” “devout” and “pious.”
Where sex is concerned, MSU is dropping science — don’t call a woman a “female.”
Purge your patriarchal pejoratives:
- Avoid the term “female” as a noun for women. The pejorative term reduces women to their assumed biological anatomy.
- Avoid the term “nickname,” which implies that a person’s name is a substitute for their legal name.
- “Homosexual.” Use “gay” or “lesbian.”
- “Closeted.” Use “not out.”
- Instead of “women’s/men’s restroom”, use “restroom” or “all-gender,” ”family” or ”single-occupant restroom.”
- Use inclusive terms, such as “chair,” “spokesperson,” “parents,” “siblings,” “relative,” “family,” “companion,” “significant other,” etc.
These are the days of tamed tongues. In the past, people more or less spoke their minds — in fact, such was a virtue in secondary-ed circles. But now, institutions are extracting words from our mouths and inserting syllables preferred by the Powers That Be.
See the nation’s new sensibilities:
Don’t ‘Jump the Gun’: New Speech Guide Orders You to Ax Your ‘Violent Language’
Host of School’s Free Speech Event Issues Language Guide Prohibiting ‘Man,’ ‘Woman,’ and ‘Mother’
University’s ‘Non-Sexist’ Language Guide Insists No One is Rightly a ‘Maintenance Man’
The Associated Press Says It’s ‘Dehumanizing’ to Use ‘the’ in Descriptions — Such as ‘the French’
Utah Public University’s ‘Inclusive Style Guide’ Forbids Students to Say ‘Biologically Male/Female’
Back to Michigan State University, the school is improving America this place where we live in myriad ways:
College’s Equity Plan Creates Affirmative Action Toolkits and ‘Diversity’ Curriculum, Prioritizes Hiring LGBT https://t.co/hcOe2liMzD
— RedState (@RedState) August 25, 2021
University Likened Unwoke Halloween Costumes to Rape and Murderhttps://t.co/ZJDcV2PZxg
— Alex Parker (@alexparker1984) November 4, 2021
Perhaps MSU’s most notable language rule relates to holidays we’ve historically heralded. Not long ago, films presented as creeps those who crusaded against Christmas. But thanks to modern academia, villains have been revamped:
In winter and spring, avoid references to majority religious imagery and language, such as the word “merry” or “Christmas trees,” “wreaths,” “holly,” “bells,” “gifts,” “reindeer,” “bunnies,” “eggs” and “chicks.” Use terms like “wishing you a wonderful winter/spring break” or “best wishes for the new year.”
The Guide calls for quite a communication Control+Alt+Delete. But for those psyched to sound college-educated, perhaps the expression overhaul is well worth it.
For the older among you: You may have once mastered university-level English, but now’s your chance to learn how to speak Woke.
-ALEX
See more content from me:
NYC Teachers Union Trains Educators in ‘Resistance Against the Harmful Effects of Whiteness’
Potpourri in Our Pants: University Hosts a ‘Genital Diversity Gallery’
Engineering Wokeness: Elite University Schools STEM Students in Anti-Oppression and Black Feminism
Find all my RedState work here.
Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.
Trending on RedState Video
