Stanford University Releases Guide Against ‘Harmful Language’ That Includes the Word ‘American’

Stanford University published a language guide Monday that announced the exclusion of the word “American” from the school’s websites and other online properties, a word which, the guide says, is “harmful” because it suggests an insult to those people from the other Americas.

The language guide, which was published Monday, is the culmination of a project launched in May and titled “Introducing the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative Website” (EHLI).

“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 code,” the EHLI states.

The EHLI itself comes with its own “Content Warning,” which states, “This website contains language that is offensive or harmful. Please engage with this website at your own pace.”

“Harmful” language in the EHLI is grouped into these categories:

Ableist, Ageism, Culturally Appropriative, Gender-based, Imprecise Language, Institutionalized Racism, Person-First, and Violent.

“Terms that don’t fit into any of those categories are gathered under “Additional Considerations,” the guide states.

In the EHLI’s section titled “Imprecise Language,” it recommends the word “American” be replaced with “U.S. citizen.”

“[‘American’] often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas,” the project states, pointing out that the Americas is composed of 42 countries.

Other terms to be eliminated at Stanford include the word “abort,” which, the guide states, “can unintentionally raise religious/moral concerns over abortion.”

Stanford’s EHLI recommends using the words “cancel” or “end” as a substitute.

The word “Karen” should also be replaced by “demanding or entitled White woman,” the guide continues, advising as well against using the phrase “peanut gallery,” which, the EHLI says, “refers to the cheapest and worst section in theaters where many Black people sat during the Vaudeville era.”… (Excerpt from The Virginia Star)