The College Fix today highlighted a "Bias Free Language Guide" released on the University of New Hampshire website that has some pretty stringent advice on how to speak and think without being offensive. Their biggest "problematic"? The word "American."Yes, it seems that using the word American is offensive because it doesn't specify that there is more than one country in North and South America. Like how saying "European vacation" is offensive to people who don't know whether you visited Big Ben or the Louvre. Very. Problematic.The guide is full of such inanity, not least of which is the fact that it begins by quoting America's "foremost intellectual" Melissa Harris-Perry. Seriously. As a further example of the absurdity: just above (as in directlyabove) the entry saying not to use "American" and only a few entries above the prohibition on using the word "African" the guide recommends using "African-American.' Seriously, take a look:
The university prez got in front of the growing dustup over this today, with a statement reassuring one and all that this is not official policy.
But the "guidelines" are still there on the website.
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