Stanford University’s Anti-‘American’ Wokeness
Eliminating a long list of "harmful language".
Stanford University put out a new list of words it considers to be “harmful language.” The 13-page “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative” includes words like “immigrant,” which should be replaced by “person who has immigrated.” It advises against saying “walk-in hours” in favor of “open hours” to avoid discriminating against and hurting the feeling of those with disabilities. Stanford urges that we drop the phrase “beating a dead horse” because it normalizes violence against animals.
Under a section called “Imprecise Language,” the guide suggests replacing the term “American” with “U.S. citizen.” It explains: “(‘American’) often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas.” After all, North and South America contain 42 countries. And they have feelings, too.
Goodness, one of my favorite groups growing up was “Jay and the Americans.” One can never listen to “Cara Mia” the same way again. What about calling someone “un-American”? Is that elitist, too? Can we still refer to a style as “Americana”?
Do we have to dump the term “the United States of America” in favor of “the United States of One of the 42 Countries in the Americas”? In baseball, we have the National League and, goodness, the American League. Bye-bye, “American Dream,” “All American,” “All-American Girl,” “American Idol,” “American exceptionalism,” “American Express,” “AmWay” and certainly the expression “the American way.” Sorry, Superman, and the “never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.”
But there is good news. This means we can drop that stupid, nonsensical, bizarre term “African American.” When a black person from the U.S. visits Africa, Africans do not refer to him or her as “African American.” I asked a reporter with The Los Angeles Times why in one paragraph the newspaper used the term “African-American” to describe a black man, and then in the same paragraph, near the end, described him as “black.” “What?” I said. “You don’t want your readers to get bored, so you switch it up?” I asked him where he was born. He said, “California.” I said, “Where are your parents from?” He said, “California.” To which I said, “Where are your parents’ parents from?” He said, “Russia.”
I asked, “Why aren’t you a ‘Russian-American’? I assure you that my ancestors have been in this country longer than yours. Yet, I have a hyphen when you describe me, but you don’t when I describe you?”
OK, Stanford, here are some suggestions for your next edition. Instead of “smash-and-grab robbery,” let’s use the word “reparations.” Instead of the term “Left-wing bigotry,” like the Hispanic Los Angeles City Council members and the Hispanic Los Angeles County union leader, the ones caught on tape making racist and disparaging remarks about blacks, a Jew, whites and Mexicans. Let’s just call this “Russian disinformation” to get them off the hook. A store thief is an “undocumented shopper.” Under your section of imprecise language, advise against saying “black, American conservative,” and instead use the term “Uncle Tom.” (Be honest — we know that’s what you think.) Southern border crossers are “uninvited guests.” Jew hatred is “thoughtful disagreement.” A serial killer is a “rogue mortician.”
But there is good news. After Stanford put out its language guide, the university immediately became the object of attack and ridicule. It now says the language guide is under review. The school recently issued the following statement: “We have particularly heard concerns about the guide’s treatment of the term ‘American.’ We understand and appreciate those concerns. To be very clear, not only is the use of the term ‘American’ not banned at Stanford, it is absolutely welcomed” (quote emphasized in the original).
Care to know what it costs to go to Stanford and learn stuff like this? Student expenses for 2022-2023: Tuition $57,693; Room and Board $18,619; Student Fees Allowance $2,145; and Books and Supplies Allowance $1,350. That’s a total of $79,807, and doesn’t include any document fees, new student orientation fees, personal expenses or travel expenses.
Instead of using the word “outrageous,” let’s call it “elevated pricing.”
California’s Crazy New Year: Five Radical Laws Go into Effect (One on Hold)
California will see several radical laws go into effect on Sunday, January 1, including a law making the state a “sanctuary” for “transgender kids,” and a law imposing penalties on doctors for COVID “misinformation.”
Here are the five most radical new laws — plus one that is currently on hold in the courts — taking place on New Year’s Day in the Golden State, with little effective opposition from a shrinking Republican legislative minority:
1. SB 107: ‘Sanctuary State’ for ‘Transgender Kids’ – This law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in September, protects the use of drugs or surgery to provide so-called “gender-affirming care” to children from other states where the use of such treatments is restricted or criminalized. It prohibits doctors from releasing information to other states, and prohibits California courts interfering in child custody over such treatments.
2. AB 2098: ‘COVID Misinformation’ – This law, signed in September, requires California’s medical licensing boards to take disciplinary action against doctors who are involved with the “dissemination of misinformation or disinformation related to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, or ‘COVID-19’.” The law does not take into account the fact that authorities like Dr. Anthony Fauci changed their recommendations over time.
3. AB 2147: Decriminalizing Jaywalking Because of Racism – This law, called the “Freedom to Walk Act,” presumes that jaywalking is a racist crime because it is supposedly enforced unevenly — by the nation’s most left-wing state — in “communities of color” where people supposedly cannot afford to pay the fines. The law prevents police from stopping people who are crossing the street illegally unless they are in danger.
4. SB 1375: Allowing Nurses to Perform Abortions Without Doctors – This law attempts to expand access to abortion by allowing qualified nurses to perform certain abortion procedures in the first trimester of pregnancy without the supervision of a doctor. This new law will take effect alongside a new provision in the California constitution, passed by a referendum in 2022, guaranteeing the right to abortion and contraception.
5. SB 357: Decriminalizing Loitering for Prostitution – This law, another by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), decriminalizes loitering in public for the purpose of committing prostitution (which remains a crime). It also allows those convicted of such loitering to petition courts for the dismissal and sealing of their cases. The law aims to remove the social stigma of sex work; it also comes amid a statewide crime wave.
On hold: AB 257: State Control of Fast Food Restaurants – As reported last year by Breitbart News, this law “creates a ten-member politburo, known as the Fast Food Council, which would serve for ten years” and would set wages and working conditions for the fast food industry. It has been suspended by the courts, after a coalition of restaurants that collected petition signatures law sued to block it until a referendum can be held.
Newsom has signed several other radical laws that go into effect in future years. He is currently thought to be mulling a run for president, and is establishing a national reputation as a left-wing leader on cultural issues.
Update: SB 1327: Allowing Private Citizens to Sue for Gun Violations – This law still took effect on January 1, though it was partially blocked by a San Diego judge. It allows private citizens to sue each other over alleged violations of the state’s gun laws (the judge blocked the fee-shifting provision that requires defendants to pay the entire legal costs). Newsom modeled the law after a similar Texas law on restricting abortions.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
TRADITIONAL VALUES GOT THERE BECAUSE THE
MAJORITY EMBRACED THEM. WOKE GOT THERE
BECAUSE IT WAS SHOVED DOWN A COLLECTIVE NATION'S
THROAT.
You may not care about woke speech, but it cares about you
This story is a couple of days old, but it still matters enough that it’s worth looking at now: North Carolina State football announcer Gary Hahn was suspended indefinitely for referring to “illegal aliens.” That he dared to mention their existence and refer to them by their legal nomenclature was a bridge too far for the wokesters at NC State. It’s also a reminder that the left is relentlessly limiting the parameters of what we’re allowed to say.
The term “alien” to describe someone who is not a citizen of the United States is an old one, going back to 1798 when it appeared in the Alien and Sedition Acts. More than 200 years later, it is still the term used in Title 8 of the United States Code, entitled “Aliens and Nationality.” One who is not a citizen and who has no legal right to be here is, by definition, an “illegal alien.”
To call people who violate American laws to enter this country anything else (e.g., “migrants” or “undocumented immigrants”) is a fraud by omission, as both terms are intended to obscure the person’s criminal conduct in entering the country. But of course, that’s exactly what leftists want to do: They want Americans to forget that the people streaming into America without abiding by any of our laws are just innocent people seeking the American dream—a dream propped up by our taxpayer dollars in the form of the benefits the government showers upon them.
Image: Frightened woman (edited) by kues1.
The RNC may not be good for much, but the person in charge of its Twitter feed is doing his (or her) job and has assembled a decent collection of tweets showing the scope of aliens crossing into America at the southern border:
By the way, as a throw-in regarding the Democrats’ attitude toward our border, I thought you should see this one, even though it’s not directly related to this post’s topic:
As I said, I just thought you should know….
When it comes to those millions of people streaming across the border, only some of them are getting official “migrant” designations conferring some measure of legality on them. A December 2022 Daily Caller investigation indicates that at least 600,000 people are known to have evaded the “migrant” process at the border. That is, they are “illegal aliens.” Given the scale of people streaming into America, it’s not unreasonable to believe that at least twice that number (or more?) are here entirely illegally.
So, illegal aliens are a real, statutory creature and, in addition to the tens of millions in America before Biden entered the Oval Office, we now have the burden of hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions, of new illegal aliens.
But the truth doesn’t matter when you’re a play-by-play announcer at North Carolina State. To allude to the semi-legal and illegal aliens turning nice, clean, polite El Paso into a hellhole is a firing (or at least suspending offense):
Hahn spoke the truth (albeit slightly snarkily, which used to be typical for sports announcers). Just remember, whatever you do, don't offend the illegal aliens.
The Bible tells us that “the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32.) No wonder, then, that the truth is the last thing the Democrats want for Americans. Freedom is not on the agenda.
For a long time, the vast middle in America thought that it could sit out the woke assault on speech. After all, these Americans reasoned, they weren’t hurling crude insults at foreign nationals or gays. What they didn’t realize is that the point isn’t what they say; the point is to silence them entirely by limiting what they are allowed to say. Because while you may not care about the woke speech police, they care about you.
Disney Disaster: Major Bank Makes 2023 Prediction that Woke Behemoth Will Dump ESPN and ABC
Banking giant Wells Fargo has made a 2023 prediction: the Walt Disney Company, which abruptly brought back former CEO Bob Iger to reverse the woke company’s rapid downward spiral late this year, will end its ownership of TV networks ABC and ESPN.
Bank analysts are predicting that some of the “big changes” Iger promised to initiate will include shedding the TV network and the cable sports network, both of which have been losing viewers, Fox Business Network reported.
“Spinning off the two networks is the best path forward and a probable late 2023 event, leaving the Walt Disney Company an attractive pure play intellectual property company,” FBN wrote.
If Iger makes the move, it will not be a big surprise to the industry, because Disney has been contemplating the idea for a while already.
ESPN, in particular, is in a tough spot in planning for the future. As Axios recently noted, ESPN ended 2021 with 76 million cable subscribers, which was down another ten percent from the 84 million it had in 2020. And each year previous to that, the network has lost a similar number of viewers.
One somewhat brighter spot for the sports network is that its ESPN+ grew 42 percent over 2021, FBN added. But it may not be enough to keep it in Disney’s portfolio.
Cable viewership in general is on a downward trajectory, so ESPN’s future is unclear.
In another sign of the times, ABC lost its third-place standing in the ratings last year as cable news network Fox News claimed the third most viewers in primetime, according to a Forbes report.
This is an unheard of success for a cable network considering that the big three TV networks — CBS, NBC, and ABC — were once the unchallenged kings of television broadcasting.
Disney will have to do something to reverse its own tumble, too. It has been reported that the Mouse House lost $123 billion in market share last year alone. The legacy media is facing stiff winds of change and Disney will likely look to shed these backward-looking properties as it faces its own harsh financial realities.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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